Murder by Numbers

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Numbers</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="501" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 218 WIDTH="495"><div> <IMG SRC="12b0628c0.jpg" border=0 width="98" height="140" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005JL29/reelmoviecriticc"> Murder by Numbers on DVD</A>  </div> <div>  <form method="POST" action="http://www.amazon.com/o/dt/assoc/handle-buy-box=[B00005JL29]"> <input type="hidden" name="asin.[B00005JL29]" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="tag-value" value="[reelmoviecriticc]"> <input type="hidden" name="tag_value" value="[reelmoviecriticc]"> <input type="image" name="submit.add-to-cart" value="Buy from Amazon.com" border="0" alt="Buy from Amazon.com" src="http://g-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/associates/add-to-cart.gif"> </form>  </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="575"><div> Murder By Numbers    <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#9999FF" FACE="Wingdings 2" >êê</FONT>     R</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By David Spielman</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> Not a whodunit!</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Cassie Mayweather: Sandra Bullock</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Richard: Michael Gosling</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Justin: Michael Pitt</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Sam: Ben Chaplin </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Janitor: Chris Penn</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="304" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: A homicide detective is determined to discover who killed an innocent woman in a small town. While those around her think she has gone mad, she will stop at nothing to prove that it was two twisted high school students. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock) is a hard-boiled homicide detective in a small California coastal town. She has recently been assigned a new partner Sam (Ben Chaplin), whose years of training to be a homicide detective seem to have paid off. Together they are forced to solve a mystery about a girl whose body was dumped in a forest outside of town. The evidence leads the police department and even Cassie and Sam to a perverted high school janitor (Chris Penn). But Cassie doesn't believe the clues; she believes there was much more to the murder. </div> <bR> <div> She begins to track down several high school students who seem almost too good to be true. One is Justin, a social outcast who is seen by his classmates as weird, yet genius. The other is Richard, a cocky, popular, and rich kid who seems to have everything in life. The two are the type that would usually never speak to each other in school. That is exactly why Cassie thinks that together they committed the `'almost'' perfect murder. </div> <bR> <div> Dealing with her growing love for her partner as well as a troubled and mysterious past, Cassie is forced to get her act together in order to prove her sanity. But as time passes, it seems as if the <I>profile</I> doesn't even fit the profile. Using all of her wits, Cassie will go to the limit in order to prove the murder was at the hands of these two twisted students. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: <I>Murder by Numbers</I> could have been a great film. First it should be noted that this is not a whodunit thriller. From the movie's beginning, it is clear that the killers are the two high school students, Justin and Richard. Through flashbacks, dominating much of the screen time, we see the careful planning of the murder as well as the act itself. It is these two young actors who dominate this movie. </div> <bR> <div> Ryan Gosling is brilliant as the twisted popular kid Richard. At times he is convincing as an energetic teenager who just enjoys living the good life, but at others he is a seriously demented sick killer. Michael Pitt is also talented as the shy social outcast Justin. He is hopeless and feels the only way he can have a friend is by committing a murder. It seems unlikely that these two, who would never even speak to each other, nevertheless commit a murder together. In school, they pretend to hate each other. That is what their attraction is to each other, and it is obvious throughout the movie that the two might even have romantic feelings towards each other. Also it should be noted that not one or </div> <div> the other is the leader of the two, the movie really goes back and forth in terms of domination in their relationship. They are sick and horrible people, but they are what carry this much too long film. Despite two outstanding performances from these young actors, there are some serious problems with the other characters in the film. </div> <bR> <div> The largest problem is Sandra Bullock and her character. First, her character is boring and not likable; she doesn't even have a certain charm that could convince the audience that she could redeem herself. She is a tease and is cruel to her new partner. That is only the beginning of the problems in this movie. Sandra Bullock is also not the best actress at playing hard-boiled roles like this. I enjoyed her acting in <I>Miss Congeniality</I> where she didn't take herself too seriously; here she hurts the film. Ben Chaplin's character is also not very complex. We never really get to find out about his personal life, for he seems to always be whining. Yet he is decent at playing this desperately uninteresting character. This would have been a much better movie if it just completely lost Sandra Bullock and Ben Chaplin's characters. </div> <bR> <div> This film has other flaws. You do not have flashbacks in a movie, if the flashbacks cheat. <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id1781.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id17"><U><I><B>Mulholland Drive</B></I></U></A><A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id1781.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id17"><U> </U></A>worked because it was not known whether it was reality or not. This movie shows supposedly real flashbacks that lead us to one conclusion, but then cheats at the end by showing us flashbacks (which don't make sense) that lead to another. The loopholes aren't the only problems though. There are several dull subplots; one is wrapped up at the end, another is not. Both are unnecessary, both are uninvolved. The action that takes place in the last fifteen minutes is routine and predictable. This movie should be ashamed of how many clichés it has borrowed from numerous other detective movies. </div> <bR> <div> <I>Murder by Numbers</I> is a dark take on suburban life. It explains that the motive for the killings the teenagers committed was that suburban life was getting boring. Now <I>that</I> is scary. If the film had focused on that edge and been even darker, it could have been a tortured but brilliant journey. Unfortunately it goes down the same path that too many detective movies have gone down in the past. That is a crime.    </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Rating R(sex; drugs; violence; language)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> David Spielman © 2002</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com"><U><U>David@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Sandra Bullock: <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2000/id810.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2000/id81"><U><I><B>Miss Congeniality</B></I></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Chris Penn: Reservoir Dogs</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="305"><div> Ben Chaplin: Birthday Girl</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="267"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="267" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Michael Pitt: <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2000/id1114.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2000/id11"><U><I><B>Hedwig and The Angry Inch</B></I></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Michael Gosling: The Pretenders</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>