When

By Victoria Laurie
Characters:

Donny-

The Number 23 (2007 film)

Directed by Joel Schumacher

Characters

Walter Sparrow / Fingerling/ (Jim Carrey)- Main character in the film. He is an animal
control officer married to Agatha; they have a son, Robin. Hes obsessed with the number
23. Hes also Fingerling, a detective in the book he read; The Number 23.
Agatha Sparrow / Fabrizia (Virginia Madsen)- Walters loving wife who is concerned
with her husbands sudden change of behavior. Shes also Fabrizia, Fingerlings girlfriend
in the book The Number 23
Robin Sparrow (Logan Lerman)- Walter and Agathas son. He also got interested in the
book his father was reading. He helped and supported Walter in the end to solve codes in
the book.
Isaac French / Dr. Miles Phoenix (Danny Huston)- Hes a professor and a close friend to
Agatha. He got accused by Walter as Agathas paramour or lover.
Suicide Blonde / Mrs. Dobkins (Lynn Collins)- Walter Sparrows mother who is killed by
her own husband because of the obsession of the number 23.
Laura Tollins (Rhona Mitra)- Shes Walter ex girl friend whos been murdered.
Kyle Flinch (Mark Pellegrino)- He is Lauras professor in college who had a secret
relationship with her. Hes accused for Lauras murder.

Setting:
The list of frequent locations in the film

Sparrows house
King Edwards Hotel (room 23)
Nathaniels Institute (hospital)

Summary
On his birthday, Walter Sparrow, a dog catcher, got delayed to pick up his wife because
he got bitten by a stray dog. He found her in a book store browsing a blood colored book that
says The Number 23, a murder mystery book written by Topsy Kretts. Agatha, his wife, later
on gave it to him as a birthday present. When Walter began reading it, he realized that the main
character named Fingerling, a detective, was quite similar to him. Ever since, he started to
believe that the book was all about his life. Walter imagined himself as the character and as well
began to have an obsession in the number 23. He began to tell it to his family and how the
number 23 is associated in his life, his birthday, house number, telephone number, etc. but his
wife said that he was just being paranoid. Agatha noticed that he was acting weird lately and she
was getting really worried so she asked him to go to his close friend, Isaac French, whos a
professor, for a talk. Isaac dismisses Walter's thoughts as paranoia. He told him that it is just a
book but many people believe the number 23 is associated with the devil because 2 divided by 3
equals .666, the number of the devil. In the book, Fingerling has a girlfriend named Fabrizia who
Walter imagined as his wife, but in the book, Fabrizia has an affair with Dr. Miles Phoenix and
the doctor was similar to Isaac. Walter was so disturbed by it, he went to King Edwards hotel
(picking number 23 as his room) and continued to read the book. The book has no chapter 23 and
Fingerling committed suicide on chapter 22. Walter saw the stray dog outside the hotel and he
chased it down to the cemetery. There, he met a priest that said the dog guards the graves
especially Laura Tollins grave. The grave was just dedicated to her because her body was
nowhere to be found. He noticed that the woman died on her 23rd birthday.

He began to research and learned that she was murdered 15 years ago by Kyle Flinch, her
boyfriend and realized that she was also related to the book. Walter went home and told them that
the book is the confession of the murderer. They believed him and started to help him to find the
murderer. He found Kyle in a jail and Kyle didnt admit he killed her nor he wrote the book.
Walter knew that the murderer is still out the city and tried to find him through the book. In the
book, he found a post office box address and they went there. They saw there a suspicious old
man who knew about the book. They didnt get much information because the old man killed
himself right in front of them but he told Agatha to go to an institute. She found out that the old
man was a doctor before. Agatha went there and found out that the Institute was deserted. She
went ahead to the old mans office and found a box with number 23 on it, it was a case, and the
subject was his husband, Walter Sparrow. Meanwhile, Walter and his son, Robin tries to break
some codes on page 23 of the book, it had a secret message that says they must go to a park. In
There, they saw the body of Laura but right after they call the police, the body was gone; Agatha
and Isaac took it. In their home, Agatha explained to him that Walter was the one wrote the book
and the one who killed Laura. Agatha showed the box to Walter and there, he saw the original
copy of the book and his name was written in it as the author. The other items in the box cause
Walter's memories to return. He ran and went back to the hotel. He went back to the room 23 and
then started to tear the wallpapers. He found out that the chapter 23 was written on the walls. The
chapter revealed that Fingerling is Walter Sparrow. After his mother died, his father committed
suicide leaving behind a notebook filled with the number 23 so Walter started to be obsessed by
it. Walter's girlfriend when he was in college was Laura and Laura had an affair with her college
professor Kyle Flinch. Walter believed that the number 23 was asking him to kill Laura, so he
did it, stabbing her 23 times. Flinch got arrested for Lauras murder. Walter got insane in room
23, and wrote the book. After he wrote it, he jumped out of the window. Walter survived the fall
but lost all memories that happened. After many years in the mental hospital he became a free
man and let him go out of there. When he remembered it all, Walter turned himself in the jail,
Laura's bones were buried in the cemetery and the falsely convicted man is set free from prison.

Climax
It is when Walter learned that the book was all about a confession of a murderer.
Outcome
Walter went back to the hotel, in the room 23 and then tear up the wallpaper on the wall.
He saw there the missing chapter of the book. The chapter 23 revealed that Fingerling was
Walter and then all of his memories returned. To correct it all, he turned himself into the jail and
Flinch was set free from prison.