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MURDER BY NUMBERS Send This Review to a Friend
It's role reversal time in "Murder By Numbers," a new crime thriller. Sandra Bullock, as experienced homicide detective Cassie Mayweather, fills a role more typical of those usually played by men. She's iron-willed, self-assured on the surface and a pain to her superiors and colleagues who think her too aggressive and independent.
Even better, she seduces her investigative partner Sam (Ben Chaplin) with the casualness that male cops display toward women. It has nothing to do with love, she makes clear; it's just a roll in the hay to satisfy her need of the moment. And when she's satisfied, out he goes--no staying the night. Sam feels used, but manages a wan smile when she assures him with the male-patented cliché, "It's not just sex--I really respect you as a person."
Of course, since she's a woman, there also has to be some inner weakness traced to something that happened to her, which we learn about in due time. Meanwhile, Cassie is sure she knows the key to the grisly murder of a young woman, although her superiors have another idea about who is guilty.
"Murder By Numbers" is reminiscent of the real-life Leopold and Loeb case and the psychological interdependence of the buddy killers of "In Cold Blood." Two smart-ass students, trying to prove to the world and each other how clever they are, have planned what they believe to be the perfect random murder, and have carefully planted clues to throw the cops off the trail. They haven't reckoned with Cassie, who is on to the creeps--Ryan Gosling who plays the more outgoing Richard and Michael Pitt as the strange Justin, who is fond of spouting philosophical quotations. (Gosling is outstanding in the unnerving film "The Believer" as a self-hating Jew who joins a Nazi-type group.)
Bullock makes a strong showing in her role, coming across as both tough and likable, and director Barbet Schroeder and screenwriter Tony Gayton team to build an absorbing psychological study. But the trouble with "Murder By Numbers," as with many other crime stories, is that the creators insist on taking a melodramatic turn in which the protagonist must fight for survival in the typically violent climax that may keep some on the edge of their seats but really undercuts the credibility of what has gone before and been far more interesting. A Warner Brothers release.
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