It All Adds Up
Murder by Numbers
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Gosling, Michael Pitt, Ben Chaplin
Director: Barbet Schroeder
Movie Help Web Popcorn Kernels:
Rope was a middling Hitchcock film, but that spirit lives on in this current tale of the perfect murder. It's also a break-through movie for Bullock, who does a very good job in portraying a fairly unpleasant but very complex person who gains my grudging admiration in the end.
Set in California, the movie focuses on two high-school kids who are bored, ignored by their parents, and stuck with their own psychological problems. As it turns out, they are too clever for their own good and decide to take on the most dangerous game of all: murder. Richard (Gosling) is a clever, wise-cracking popular class clown who hides a massive anger at the world. Justin (Pitt) is a loner, moody and dark. His hobbies are poetry and forensics and police procedures, a strange mix, but then again he is a strange young man. They fall upon the idea of killing a perfect stranger, which neatly removes the whole motive thing. Unfortunately they can't seem to leave well enough alone.
Bullock plays Mayweather, a weary detective who is direct and blunt to the point of rudeness at times. She lives alone on a houseboat and doesn't seem to want to get close to anyone. Her new partner (Chaplin) tries but is rebuffed in a number of bizarre scenes, and it takes a long time for them to come to terms with each other. In the meantime they try to solve the murder, with Mayweather stubbornly sticking to her own ideas. There are a number of obviously conventional scenes, but there are a few surprises and a few good plot twists.
In the end I think this is a good tale. A bit glum, even melancholy, the characters are well-designed and expertly brought to life. While slow, the plot moves along and the ending is pretty exciting.
