Murder by Numbers (2002)

Two gifted high school students execute a "perfect" murder - then become engaged in an intellectual contest with a seasoned homicide detective.

Director:

Barbet Schroeder

Writer:

Tony Gayton

Stars:

Sandra Bullock, Ben Chaplin, Ryan Gosling

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sandra Bullock	...	Cassie Mayweather / Jessica Marie Hudson
Ben Chaplin	...	Sam Kennedy
Ryan Gosling	...	Richard Haywood
Michael Pitt	...	Justin Pendleton
Agnes Bruckner	...	Lisa Mills
Chris Penn	...	Ray Feathers
R.D. Call	...	Captain Rod Cody
Tom Verica	...	Asst. D.A. Al Swanson
Janni Brenn	...	Ms. Elder
John Vickery	...	Restaurant Manager
Michael Canavan	...	Mr. Chechi
Krista Carpenter	...	Olivia Lake, the Victim
Neal Matarazzo	...	Male Officer in Flashback
Adilah Barnes	...	Lab Technician
Jim Jansen	...	Lawyer

Storyline

Richard Haywood, a Californian high school's coolest kid, secretly teams up with another rich kid in his class, brilliant nerd Justin 'Bonaparte' Pendleton, whose erudition, specially in forensic matters, allows them to plan elaborately perfect murders, just for the kick, for which they set up Richard's marijuana supplier, their school's janitor Ray Feathers, as a psychotic serial killer. The case is assigned to detectives Cassie 'the hyena' Mayweather, who carries a sequoia-size chip on the shoulder from her previous life, and her brilliant new partner, Sam Kennedy, 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 and her understandably vindictive abused ex, Assistant D.A. Al Swanson, soon ban her from when she disobeys instructions and hand to him. When the plotting boys both dig class-mate Lisa Mills, their unnatural bond comes ...

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Plot Keywords:

murder | high school student | sociopath | teenage boy | disposing of a dead body | 

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Taglines:

The only flaw in their plan was her.

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language, a sex scene and brief drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [UK]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 April 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Murd3r 8y Num8ers

Filming Locations:

541 Embarcadero, Morro Bay, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,307,394, 21 April 2002, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$31,874,869, 30 June 2002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Castle Rock Entertainment, Schroeder Hoffman Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The old lodge on the bluff was constructed especially for the movie and was torn down after filming was completed. The interior scenes were shot on a set.

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Goofs

Richard's hair goes from long to short and back to longer in a matter of days.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Richard: Shall we say the words one last time?
Justin: One cannot live fully without embracing suicide in crime.
Richard: Say it.
Justin: A pact made with relentless fire that requires that, while some live, others die.
Richard: On three...
in unison: One, two, three
[gun shot]

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Connections

Featured in Six Feet Under: I'll Take You (2002)

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Soundtracks

Entry of the Gods into Valhalla
Written by Richard Wagner (as R. Wagner)
Performed by The Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony (as Czecho-Slovak RSO)
Conductor Uwe Mund
Courtesy of Naxos of America
By Arrangement with Source/Q

User Reviews

Gripping despite being overly familiar

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. They even have a suspect lined up. Of course, the one thing they didn't bank on was Bullock's chip-on-the-shoulder uberbitch detective.

Schroeder does not build his film visually. It has a conventional TV movie feel to it and, despite being well played, Pitt's nerdy all-knowing geek is a bit too formulaic. But the film holds you nevertheless. Schroeder displays a storyteller's gift for how things should develop, (though a subplot involving an earlier violent event in Bullock's life seems like an unnecessary intrusion). 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.