Murder by Numbers

Movie Title: Murder by Numbers

Official Website (it might still work): Murder by Numbers

Rating (out of 10): 5

Buy the: Video/DVD | Soundtrack

The Review:

Sandra Bullock in a serious role? You can’t be serious! (My apologies to Mr. John McEnroe). But, alas, it is true, the star of films like While You Were Sleeping, 28 Days, and most recently Miss Congeniality takes on a more serious role. She does this in the new Barbet Schroeder directed thriller, Murder by Numbers.

In the film Bullock is Detective Cassie Mayweather, a girl with a past that everyone can figure out after the first flashback she has. Cassie is a bit of a pariah at her police department. She behaves and acts like a man in a women’s body, and the men don’t like it. So, she has a new partner in Sam Kennedy (Ben Chaplin from Birthday Girl). His is a brand spanking new detective who doesn’t know about her reputation, yet. Well the two now have to work together to solve a new murder in town. Of course the audience already knows that two local high school kids, Richard Haywood (Ryan Gosling, Remember the Titans) and Justin Pendleton (Michael Pitt, Finding Forester), committed the crime. The main suspense is whether or not the police will catch the two who believe they have committed the perfect crime while framing the local pot dealer/school janitor, Ray (Chris Penn, Corky Romano). On the side are issues with trying to figure out who is manipulating who, and which kid actually strangled the victim. Plus throw in a ‘love’ story between the two detectives for comic relief, and you pretty much have the story for Murder by Numbers. But not all of it, since there is also a love story between Justin, the shy and very brilliant kid, and Lisa (Agnes Bruckner, The Glass House), a fellow classmate that the very popular Richard sleeps with. Now you have the rest of the story.

Other people in this Tony Gayton written film are Michel Paulson, R.D. Call, Tom Verice, Anne Aubin, and Krista K. Carpenter as the murder victim.

It was definitely odd seeing Bullock in this role, but she did fine. However, Ben Chaplin can only seem to act one-way, which is annoying. The film has a few good laughs, a little bit of action, but it comes up short on the thrills. In the end, it’s not a bad film, not a good one, but it was worth seeing, so I give it five couches, right in the middle.