Murder by Numbers
Tags: philosophical, murder, flashback

Plot synopsis:
Richard Haywood (Gosling) and Justin Pendleton (Pitt) are high school classmates; Richard is wealthy and popular, while Justin is a brilliant introvert. After months of planning a "perfect crime", they abduct a woman at random, strangle her, and plant evidence implicating Richard's marijuana dealer, janitor Ray Feathers (Chris Penn). Detective Cassie Mayweather (Bullock) and her new partner, Sam Kennedy (Chaplin) investigate. Cassie sleeps with Sam early on—as she has with previous partners—but won't let him see her chest, and curtly sends him home afterward.
Footprints at the crime scene lead to Richard, and vomit nearby implicates Justin. Both have alibis, and deny knowing each other, but Cassie is convinced that Richard is the murderer and Justin is involved. Sam criticizes her refusal to consider other suspects, as most of the physical evidence points away from the two boys. Cassie's boss, Captain Rod Cody (R. D. Call), and her cuckolded ex, Assistant D.A. Al Swanson (Tom Verica), fearing Richard's influential parents, take Cassie off the case. Sam, following the (planted) evidence, tracks down Ray. When Ray is found dead, apparently a suicide (actually killed by Richard), the woman's murder appears solved; but Sam decides that Cassie may be right, and continues the investigation.
Justin, who has a crush on classmate Lisa Mills (Agnes Bruckner), works up the courage to ask her out. A jealous Richard seduces Lisa, then gives Justin a video clip of the two having sex. Justin is enraged, but regains control, knowing Sam is still watching them. Cassie begins receiving calls from her ex-husband, Carl Hudson, who went to prison for stabbing her in the chest 17 times. His parole hearing is coming up, and he wants her to speak on his behalf. Cassie confides to Sam that although she became a cop to prove to herself that she wasn't a victim, she is terrified at the prospect of seeing Carl again. She also confesses that Richard reminds her of Carl—which is why she is convinced of Richard's guilt, and obsessed with proving it.
Sam and Cassie bring Richard and Justin in for separate interrogations, trying to induce each to implicate the other, but neither will talk, and both are released. At the victim's home, Cassie determines how the boys carried out the abduction and altered the physical evidence. Justin and Richard, knowing that Cassie is closing in on them, flee to an abandoned house, where Richard produces two pistols and proposes a mutual suicide. On the count of three, Justin shoots (into the air), but Richard does not. Justin demands to see Richard's gun—which is unloaded. As a furious Justin is about to shoot Richard, Cassie arrives. Richard grabs Justin's gun and shoots at Cassie, wounding Justin instead. Cassie gives chase and tackles Richard on a rickety balcony jutting out over a cliff. As Richard strangles Cassie, the balcony gives way and Richard falls to his death. Justin grabs Cassie, who is hanging on the edge of the balcony, and pulls her back into the house.
Cassie assures Justin that she will intercede on his behalf, since he was an innocent dupe, manipulated by the ruthless Richard. Then she notices a mark on her neck caused by Richard's large ring, and realizes that the dead woman's neck did not have a similar mark. Confronted with the evidence, Justin confesses that he strangled the victim to prove his "courage" to Richard.
In the closing scene, Cassie faces her fears and enters the courtroom to testify at Carl's parole hearing. The bailiff calls her to the stand by her legal name: Jessica Marie Hudson.

Review: As a hard-nosed cop investigating an apparently motiveless murder, and appearing to unravel as she does so, Sandra Bullock does something approximating to real acting in Barbet Schroeder's overly familiar thriller.
Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt play a couple of high school kids who commit a Loeb/Leopold style crime, planting a number of false 'clues' so that the police will build up a picture of the killer.
And as the cock-of-the-walk arrogant yet vulnerable rich kid killer Ryan Gosling is the real McCoy. He can convey charm and menace in equal measure and often in the same moment and confirms his status as one of the best young actors in movies at the minute..
Barbet Schroeder's "Murder by Numbers" starring Sandra Bullock is solid work, though not particularly compelling.
The POV keeps shifting back and forth between the two boys and Cassie.I was not interested in Cassie's tortured past, nor did I care about her relationship with her assistant, Sam. These plot points interfered with the more compelling story of two young men hypnotized by the "philosophy" of crime.Indeed, the film works when it focuses on Justin and Richard, and their efforts to second-guess, initially the cops and then later, each other.
It kept me guessing as to who was going to do what to whom.Despite a convoluted and, at times, confusing plot, "Murder By Numbers" is worth watching for its provocative premise, its suspense, and the acting of Ryan Gosling..
Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock) is a homicide detective with a disturbing past, she and her partner Sam Kennedy (Ben Chaplin) are called in to investigate the murder of a young woman found abandoned in a ditch.
When everything seems to point at the killer, Cassie's gut tells her that things are not quite as they appear, and the real killers find that they can't hide as easily as they first thought.Murder by numbers does have some good intrigue and suspense in the plot, and yes it does try very hard to do something a fresh and different, but in the end it just seems pretty run of the mill.6/10 It entertains and it does have a good cast, but its just not quite sharp enough on the details..
The whole thing is pretty much blown by the "cop side" of the story, where Sandra Bullock and Ben Chaplin's homicide detective characters muddle through an awkward sexual affair that becomes more and more trivialized the longer the movie goes on.
The two teen killers played by Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt are the only real reasons to see this movie.
When the dead body of a woman is found in the woods near the river, feisty homicide detective Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock) and her new partner, Sam Kennedy (Ben Chaplin) are assigned to the case.
Determined to solve the crime, Mayweather follows her hunches and microscopic bits of evidence, focusing her investigation on two teens: Justin Pendleton (Michael Pitt), a brilliant, misunderstood nerd, and Richard Haywood (Ryan Gosling), a smooth talking, spoiled rich kid.
It's up to Mayweather, who buries herself in her work in an attempt to forget her own tormented past, and Kennedy, a transfer from Vice who is working his first homicide case, to ignore the stereotypical profiles and see past the obvious in order to solve the crime.Murder by Numbers is an interesting and entertaining small little thriller that doesn't excel but never disappoints either.
Gosling delivered a great performance as usual and I can see why he felt attracted to his project, the film ends up being more of a character study then a thriller often reflecting on the human nature.
Bullock is not really able to convince with her tough exterior to hide inner wounds, although that should be easy for an actor of her experience, and her male colleague gets no room in the film to show us why he stands her, after what she puts him through the very first days they work together.Although it's mainly a thriller, I guess this movie would have needed some additional efforts on the drama of it, the emotional processes included in it.
This is a typical soft spoken rental movie for an slow sunday afternoon with your boyfriend/girlfriend :)It does all the standard moves according to the crime/suspense genre when the detective, (the miscast Sandra Bullock) and her partner  tries to capture the two killers, both rich and blasé but highly intelligent school kids.
I think she should maybe look to more comedy roles as I feel some of her best parts have been in films like Demolision Man and even last years Miss Congeniality wasn't too bad (ok it was was that bad but not as bad as Murder By Numbers).
Not good, when two unbalanced college maladriots (Gosling and Pitt) decide to send them on a wild goose chase - by planting very clever and misleading forensic evidence at a crime scene.Fair enough, but while Bullock and Chaplin fail to create any sparks, we also have to endure a several dull overly-melodramatic flashbacks illustrating an important event in Cass's history.
Alfred Hitchcock invented any kind of thriller you could think of:he set the standards so high that any director who makes a suspense movie will be fatally compared to him.The main subject of this Bullock vehicle ,all the ideas,almost everything was already in Hitchcock's classic " Rope":the two students who commit a gratuitous crime, Nietsche's philosophy,and the clues that the boys disseminate ,the Master was the first to transfer them to the screen.And with an eighty-minute movie which was a riveting technical tour de force."Murder by numbers " does not take place in a single room,like "the rope" ,mind you.And ,what a supreme originality,it pits two cops against the evil youngsters;and ,you would never guess it,these two cops are very different:actually,Bullock plays the part of woman living like a man ,and her partner (Chaplin) is as shy as a clueless girlie.The two boys' performances are not really mind-boggling ,not as good ,as ,say ,that of Edward Norton in "primal fear" .Well,you know ," Rope" was so good .....
"Murder by Numbers", on the other hand, is a by-the-numbers character study with even its subtext having been co-opted from countless films noirs and 60s and 70s psychological drama/mysteries like "Peeping Tom" and "Klute".Even Sandy as a cop was much more convincing as her typecast "lovable klutz makes good" character in "Miss Congeniality".
Include this with the fact it's basically boring (especially Sandra Bullock) throughout, and you've got a film that starts out with lot's of potential, but drags along with plot holes that are so evident...it's a "crime" in itself.
The two boys in the film do a great job though..and make up for Sandra Bullock's obviously "over the top" acting as the "tough guy" female detective.
Can some one tell me the point of this film!!??!?You know exactly who did it right at the start, Bullock plays a 'character' who you care nothing about, Ben Chaplin is wasted, it slow boring and has no climax, the one small twist at the end is just that small and does not make up for what seems a life time to get toI beg you do not waste your valuable life on this!!!.
Every cliche used in better movies is utilized from the angry police chief to the detective(Bullock) who know's the true killer's identity but no one believes her.
Chicks love Infinite Dreams.The movie has a lot to say about the bureaucracy of criminal investigations, as Cassie Mayweather (Bullock) struggles to follow the strong leads that she has come across, while her boss attempts to force her to stop investigating the crime, already intent on closing the case with the tentative conclusion already reached.
The movie wasn't too bad at first, I kind of liked the plotting high school kids.
Overall, the movie was not too bad when it was just a couple of kids trying to get away with murder, they just had to add a strong female detective who becomes suspicious of them for no real reason that I can think of other than that it suits the plot, and the movie goes downward until an ending that I personally hate so very much that it renders the rest of the movie unwatchable.
I went to see this movie because i thought the plot was good and interesting, two teenagers who plan commits a murder to see if they can get away with it.
There are clearly parallels here to the Leopold and Loeb case from the 1920's, that has inspired other, and perhaps better movies.Murder by Numbers is less than compelling when it focuses on the Jessica/Cassie backstory of Sandra Bullock's character.
Sandra Bullock held this picture together, however, Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt both showed great acting abilities and I am quite sure these two actors will become greater stars in the future..
In fact the only part of this movie which was emphasised and tried to keep us all awake was the normal everyday sound effects, and they were like something out of the first talkies ever made, when proper use of microphones had yet to be perfected.The Hitchcock effort on the subject ("Rope", starring James Stewart), was far better done, and without the "help" of "method acting" (which, to my mind, should be completely banned from the art), and unnecessary forays into forensic science.The under-playing was just too over-done (which I thought would have been impossible), the youngsters just too irritating, and the flashbacks (doubly explained in dialogue), just superfluous.Overall this movie is one for ardent Sandra Bullock fans only.
Star and producer Sandra Bullock's detective could have been watching an episode of "CSI" instead of "Matlock" that she does in "Murder By Numbers," as it's basically like a two-parter of the CBS series.
Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt are creepily involving and alternatively sympathetic as Leopold and Loeb-types (gee wasn't that what "Compulsion" was already about?) and Bullock has flashes of uniqueness.I enjoyed the sexual role reversal in the beginning which made the interplay with Ben Chaplin as her partner start out interesting, but that wasn't pursued, more's the shame.At one point I thought I was confused or had dozed off, but it turned out we were all being played with, but then I don't think the kids would really have made the mistakes that led Bullock to them.
There are a few positives the murder plotters are well portrayed and the murders show some thought.But Sandra Bullock just didn't convince me and I don't think she can carry this type of movie in the way Jodie Foster did in Silence of the Lambs.
Ben Chaplin is similarly miscast as her partner neither seem to portray strength of character at anytime, even though Bullocks character has past 'issues' she would still have needed strength to do what she does and this is never apparent as her voice is often weak in what are meant to be commanding scenes.There were a few twists and turns but most can be seen coming a mile off, I hate to be negative about movies as a lot of skilled work goes into them but I can't find anything to recommend this.Your better off watching Columbo repeats on BBC2 - 4/10.
In Murder By Numbers she's playing a character that's really not the girl next door and that doesn't change by the end of the movie.
this one has a decent plot with a few good twists at the end of the movie, Sandra Bullock does a fine job in this one as a woman on the edge, not sure of herself and battling her inner demons, she can't seem to keep a man in her life, especially partners, they seem to keep leaving her for some reason.
I was amazed after viewing this good film, is amazing how the two boys Richard and Justin resembles their evil personalities as two young guys who wanted to coldly commit the perfect crime; and i was even more impressed after I saw the case upon this story was based; the Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb crime of Bobby Franks; is absolutely true that this kind of criminal planning minds can coexist with us, as Leopold and Loeb they can still hide in the higher classes of our society, even in the religious society.The film as a whole is great; as a thriller it kept me tied to the movie all the time, wondering what would happen next, the intrigue and mystery behind the murder keeps going; as you see how the perfect murder can be so coldly planned and perform; a total challenge for the cops and for the actors; Ryan Gosling as Richard shows why he's a great actor, performing the most difficult character of the film; indeed i think that he's on or two years short to obtaining an Oscar.
I liked but not that much, the performance of Michael Pitt, and the Sandra Bullock performance was to me pretty normal, she was the hook for the promotion of the movie, but as a cop she looked extremely naive.
The camera and cinematography of the movie is pretty well obtained and captivates the audience as well.ABOUT THE MOVIE: Ryan Gosling plays here Richard Haywood, a high class student, popular, intelligent and manipulative friend of Michael Pitt (Justin Pendleton), also high class brilliant student; they are the main suspects of a perfect planned crime of a girl; the case was followed by agent Cassie (Sandra Bullock) a police officer with some obscure past that tries with her partner Sam (Ben Chaplin) by every mean, to uncover this murder.
They all get involve in a CSI type of investigation, with great challenges as cops and in somewhat cat - mouse play where the mouse is extremely clever and loves to play.Very good work of Barbet Schroeder, i will expect for his next movie!
She has always chosen roles that bring out that "victim" look in her, and I've liked all that I've seen.The character she plays in this movie reminds me of a 30 something girl I dated a few times a few years ago.
"Murder by Numbers" is a thriller that at times had me thinking that it was a clever thriller and at other times had me rubbing my eyes  and yawning.Nevertheless,I did find this movie pretty much involving and I found the plot of the film well worth the time to spend the rest of the time spending my entire time sitting in the auditoriom staring at the screen.Sandra Bullock and Ben Chaplin were good in the film and the film does have it's good points and it also had it's not so good points.I don't know what it was.Maybe it was because I was tired watching this film late at night or maybe it was because I prefered watching "The Scorpion King" which I liked a little more."Murder by Numbers" falls in the same category of it's one of those O.K. films and the ending which I cannot give away made the film worth the time to watch..
"Murder by Numbers" tells the story of two rich young kids - Richard (Ryan Gosling) and Justin (Michael Pitt) - who are so bored from their lives that they decide to do something "meaningful" - execute the perfect murder.
Both of them are highly intelligent and have this demonic and twisted philosophy about life - "One cannot live fully without embracing suicide in crime.".The two kill a young woman and everything seems going on plan until two detectives - Cassie (Sandra Bullock) and Sam (Ben Chaplin) - start investigating the murder.I am not going to spoil anything more about the plot except it has some really interesting plot twists altough there are also some very big cliche scenes.
The case is assigned to detectives Cassie 'the hyena' Mayweather (Sandra Bullock), a crime scene specialist who carries a huge chip on the shoulder from an abusive relationship that has haunted her for years, and her brilliant new partner, Sam Kennedy (Ben Chaplin), who just transferred from the vice squad; they can work together very well, and even fit romantically, but fall out over different professional attitudes towards the investigation, which Captain Rod Cody (R.D. Call) and her understandably vindictive abused ex, Assistant D.A. Al Swanson (Tom Verica), soon ban her from when she disobeys instructions and hand to him.
Although Sandra Bullock kind of p****s off, I really liked this movie.
I felt as though I could cut it with a knife.The plot was the same old story, which is what made it so predictable, but it did a great job of translating the tired story to a modern time and audience.The weakest link in this movie was Sandra Bullock.
The acting is at least good by Bullock, Ryan Gosling (Richard) and Michael Pitt (Justin), and often riveting.
If you LOVE Sandra, you will like this movie, it wasn't that bad..
When it comes to dramatic acting however, Bullock falls a little short.Murder By Numbers is a movie that tries hard to imitate the dark, brutal nature of Silence of the Lambs - through a clever plot, grisly crime scene shots, and sexual tension between killer and cop.
It is just too difficult to believe that she is in fact Cassie Mayweather, a hardened detective with little time for anything other than the macabre work she has chosen for herself.The real failure of this film is not Sandra Bullock however - it is in the half-hearted nature that the murderers themselves are developed.
Now, I know that Sandra Bullock produced this film, but she needs to learn that sometimes you need to make certain sacrifices in order to advance the story...like not trying to make the whole movie about her character!The story is about two high school students (one rich and popular, the other smart and anti-social) who formulate a plan to commit murder and follow it by the number...just to see if they can get away with it.