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Murder By Numbers [2002]
from Warner Home Video
starring Sandra Bullock, Ben Chaplin, Ryan Gosling, Michael Pitt, Agnes Bruckner
directed by Barbet Schroeder

Features:

• PAL

Editorial Review:

Murder by Numbers is a satisfying, if hardly earth-shattering, addition to Sandy Bullock's CV and the thriller genre in general. While director Barbet Schroeder ratcheted up the tension in his Single White Female, here the action coasts along at a more sedate pace with a tale of teenage murderers that's loosely based on a real incident. (The same incident was the basis for two other movies: Rope and Compulsion.)

Bullock plays seasoned cop Cassie Mayweather, who links the murder of a young woman in Los Angeles to two high-school students. Cassie and her partner (Ben Chaplin) engage in the obligatory game of cat-and-mouse with the two teenagers before the ludicrous finale. It could have been a good film, but Murder by Numbers continually misses the interesting point that this was a crime committed by highly intelligent young men simply for the intellectual thrill of it; instead, it serves up a by-the-numbers thriller with all the trappings of a TV movie. The performances are solid (especially that by Ryan Gosling, who plays one of the murderous teens) but there are so many gaping holes in both plot and logic that the film pretty much manages to disappear into them.

On the DVD: Murder by Numbers gets a by-the-numbers DVD release. The normally commentary-friendly Ms Bullock is absent from the chit-chat here, and the director and editor really don't throw up anything of significant interest beyond discussing an extra scene that they claim is included on the DVD but in fact seems absent and giving the reasons why they couldn't use the high school locations originally planned. The DVD also includes the trailer. A good sharp transfer and strong Dolby 5.1 mix are the plus points. --Jon Weir

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

• A Decent Film With A Stellar Young Cast
  Murder By Numbers is an entertaining thriller, it isn't particularly great but it if you want a crime movie that has little action but a lot of thought then this is a good choice, but sometimes the viewer does feel that it tries too hard.
  Ryan Gosling & Michael Pitt are both very promising as the two murderous teens. Like other reviewers I agree whole heartedly that the film could have been a whole lot better. It definitely isn't groundbreaking!
  The ending was particularly disappointing,... more info

• "Psychos want to get caught."
  Sandra Bullock stars as Cassie Mayweather, a tough police detective who's investigating a murder with the help of her new partner (Ben Chaplin). There are a lot of clues that just don't add up, until Cassie begins to suspect two smart, rich, and very arrogant high school students (Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt).
  Actually, we know who did it from the first moments of the film; the fun lies in seeing how Cassie will connect the dots and catch them. This is terrific movie, full of suspense and action.... more info

• The danger of unsupervised teenagers
  If you have a teenager, especially if it's a boy, maybe you should take a moment and check to see what the little hooligan is up to. That's the lesson of MURDER BY NUMBERS.

  Homicide Detective Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock) is investigating the murder of a young woman whose body was found in the woods replete with tantalizing clues: yellow carpet fibers, the hair of a baboon, and a dollop of vomit. And then there's the victim's one finger that's missing - severed, apparently. Almost from the first, the... more info

• Very much watchable
  Great film. No boring bits. Clever and has twists.

  why 4 stars not 5? Just cos I'm super picky. This is not a film that will blow your mind away, but one you will have been glad you have seen.

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