Sandra Bullock

Ben Chaplin

Ryan Gosling

Michael Pitt

Agnes Bruckner

Chris Penn

R. D. Call

Tom Verica

Janni Brenn

John Vickery

Michael Canavan

Krista Carpenter

Neal Matarazzo

Adilah Barnes

Jim Jansen

Paula Scarpino

Brian Stepanek

Sharon Madden

John Doolittle

Dennis Cockrum

Eric Saiet

Nancy Osborne

Ralph Seymour

Christine Healy

Nick Offerman

Todd Leatherbury

Tony Gayton

Lee Percy

Barbet Schroeder

Luciano Tovoli

Clint Mansell

Bruce Benson

Jerome Butler

Donna Evans

Craig Baxley Jr.

Kanin Howell

Misako Shimizu

Terry Anderson

Cinda-Lin James

Jeffrey Stott

Seth Arnett

Stanton Barrett

Julie Duvic

Thomas Causey

Raymond Consing

Patia Prouty

Charles Gibson

Alex L. Worman

Martin Charles

Joseph F. Brennan

Antoinette J. Gordon

Peter Clemens

Gary Tandrow

John Berger

Daniel R. Jennings

Conan Castro Jr.

Dwayne Grady

Gary C. Beaird

Caroline Perzan

Michelle Harrison

Tamara McDonough

Trish Gallaher Glenn

Maggie Morgan

Medusah

James F. Truesdale

Susan Hoffman

Valli O'Reilly

Larry Guy Clause

Kathleen Freeman

Masako Masuda

Bruno Van Zeebroeck

Mandy Friedrich

Rebecca Nicolaou

Lorraine Crossman

Ann Gray

Paul A. Levin

Steve Saklad

John R. Elliott

Daril Alder

Michael J. Bailey

Chris Winn

Heather Gross

H. Leah Amir

Cliff Fleming

Lewis Goldstein

Grant Maxwell

Kam Chan

Charleen Richards-Steeves

Robert Dawson

Paul J. Zydel

Cate Montana

Justin Blampied

Alan D. Purwin

Marko Costanzo

Ron Bochar

Tom Fleischman

Wyatt Sprague

Mo Henry

Alexa Zimmerman

Dennis Sands

Delphine Robertson

Dale E. Grahn

Chris Fielder

Simon Cassels

Gina Alfano

David Lucarelli

Eileen A. O'Donnell

Dustin Blauvelt

Linda Matthews

Deva Anderson

Kerry Lyn McKissick

Howard Feuer

Kevin J. Lang

Norman Howell

Carol Oditz

Bob Gorelick

Nic Ratner

Suzanne Hanover

Nicholas Renbeck

Steph Benseman

Hilton Rosemarin

Lona Vigi

Julie Carr

Crime

Drama

Thriller

Murder by Numbers

Castle Rock Entertainment

Schroeder Hoffman Productions

Warner Bros. Pictures

United States of America

English

high school

homicide

detective

intellectual

nerd

vice

partner

murder

rich

forensic

A pact made with relentless fire that requires that, while some live, others die.

A modern spin on the Leopold and Loeb case, directed by Barbet Schroeder and starring Sandra Bullock as a cop with emotional baggage trying to prove that two high school kids (Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt) have committed what they think is the perfect murder - just for kicks, allegedly.

There's nothing exactly awful about the film, it's well performed by the principal players, engrossing in narrative, beautifully lensed by Luciano Tovoli and Schroeder layers the production with a suitable feeling of unease. Sadly there's no psychological depth given the two boys by writer Tony Gayton, which renders the whole motives and means, and the investigation of such, as being a shallow exercise in thriller film making.

Running at two hours in length doesn't help matters, because this further irritates that more meat was not written onto Gosling and Pitt's bones, while it also exposes just how hackneyed and clichéd the picture is. Which when the story should be psychologically profound, marks this out as a frustrating viewing experience. 6/10

Decent crime-thriller that I saw back in 2002 (probably in theaters as I did go on a weekly basis back then) and while never really impressed me, still found it watchable thanks to the performances from a young Ryan Gosling (only his fifth film) and Michael Pitt, and Sandra Bullock was alright as a damaged homicide detective. Plot plays like an episode of Criminal Minds, which isn't a bad thing to me. Also fun seeing Nick Offerman in a bit role. **3.25/5**

CinemaSerf

This is yet another role in which Sandra Bullock plays a cop on the outskirts of her team. She is "Cassie", a woman with intimacy issues who gets teamed up with "Sam" (Ben Chaplin) whom she toys with as if he were a kitten both personally and on their case to investigate what looks like the perfect murder. A distinct lack of clues leads her bloodhound nose to a school where, without the slightest shred of evidence, she alights on the wealthy "Haywood" (Ryan Gosling) to whom she takes an instant dislike. Further ferreting around lead the pair to "Pendleton" (Michael Pitt) who is partial to a little caviar, as was the corpse. Might they all be connected? I've rarely seen a potentially decent ensemble cast wasted like this. Bullock just isn't at the races, her character is frankly really quite boring and the rapport with the out of his depth Chaplin just doesn't work. There is the glimmer of an homo-erotic relationship between Gosling and the always enigmatic Pitt, but I think maybe that is just because my brain was scrabbling around trying to find a reason to make it through this really disappointing feature. In the end it is a battle of wills, and those who seem to hold all the aces play their hand as if their arms had been amputated; serendipity plays way too big a part in the denouement and at just shy of two hours, I found myself looking out of the window at the seagulls more than I might have liked. Not very good!

Murder by numbers - Trailer HD

Murder by Numbers( 2002)

The only flaw in their plan was her.

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A review by John Chard

Written by John Chard on Thu Jun 19 2014

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