Murder by Numbers Review
by Bob Bloom (bobbloom AT iquest DOT net)April 20th, 2002
MURDER BY NUMBERS (2002) 1 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Sandra Bullock, Ben Chaplin, Ryan Gosling, Michael Pitt, Chris Penn, Agnes Bruckner and R.D. Call. Music by Clint Mansell. Written by Tony Gayton. Directed by Barbet Schroeder. Rated R. Approx. 115 minutes.
Sometimes a movie reviewer's responsibility goes beyond merely relating the merits or shortcomings of a film. At times, a reviewer must look at a feature and how it might affect society as a whole.
And that is why I am disturbed about the new crime thriller, Murder by Numbers.
Starring Sandra Bullock and directed by the renowned Barbet Schroeder, whose other films include Reversal of Fortune, Single White Female, Kiss of Death and Before and After, Murder by Numbers is a cat-and-mouse thriller about a couple of high school students who think they've committed the perfect murder and the homicide detective-crime scene specialist (Bullock) whose investigation works to implicate them.
So, what's my objection? Simply this: The daily news is rife with stories of students killing other students or teachers. Must we see it in the movies? The scab from Columbine is still fresh, even after three years. Murder by Numbers is a disturbing reminder of that tragedy - one we do not need.
As for the film itself, you know a movie has problems when a subplot holds more interest than the main story.
The secret of Detective Cassie Mayweather's past is more of a mystery than the murder she is investigating. We know why teen-agers Richard Haywood (Ryan Gosling) and Justin Pendleton (Michael Pitt) committed the crime, the only suspense is seeing how long it takes Mayweather (Bullock) and her partner, Sam Kennedy (Ben Chaplin), to figure it out.
It is so obvious the teens are the culprits. With their various tics and strange behavior, a rookie cop could nap them.
Watching the interaction between Richard and Justin, and trying to discern which teen is manipulating the other is one of the few puzzles Schroeder and writer Tony Gayton offer.
Bullock's Mayweather seems a bundle of contradictions. She is smart, observant and insightful. She displays a biting, sarcastic sense of humor and takes her partner on a mental roller-coaster ride, pushing him away emotionally while at the same time seducing him. In this instance, Cassie is the sexual aggressor.
She also displays a pain and vulnerability that offsets her professional persona.
Chaplin's character doesn't offer much, perhaps because of the way he is written. His Kennedy is good looking and intelligent, but rather bland.
Gosling, one of the football players in Remember the Titans, and Pitt, a Leonardo DiCaprio look-alike, are bundles of nervous energy as the spoiled, bored, emotionally neglected teens who kill as a means of filling voids in their life.
The main plot of Murder by Numbers is reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, but lacks the suspense of the earlier work.
Murder by Numbers cannot unshackle itself from recent history, the shadow of which burdens the movie to the point of distraction. The film's deficiencies - its failure to create or sustain any real suspense - would have, however, consigned it to the bin of forgettable outings even without its extra baggage.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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