Murder by Numbers

"The only flaw in their plan was her."

2002 2h 0m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 1,224

CrimeDramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Tenacious homicide detective Cassie Mayweather and her still-green partner are working a murder case, attempting to profile two malevolently brilliant young men: cold, calculating killers whose dark secrets might explain their crimes.

“The only flaw in their plan was her.”

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Cast

Sandra Bullock
Cassie Mayweather
Ben Chaplin
Sam Kennedy
Ryan Gosling
Richard Haywood
Michael Pitt
Justin Pendleton
Agnes Bruckner
Lisa Mills
Chris Penn
Ray Feathers
R. D. Call
Rod Cody
Tom Verica
Al Swanson

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Barbet Schroeder
Writers: Tony Gayton, Raymond Consing
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $50M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 24 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Barbet Schroeder, shot by Luciano Tovoli. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Clint Mansell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Lee Percy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sandra Bullock and Ben Chaplin and Ryan Gosling carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The only flaw in their plan was her.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0264935 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Barbet Schroeder directs. Luciano Tovoli behind the camera. Clint Mansell scores. Lee Percy cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $50M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Released 24 years ago.
3Directed by Barbet Schroeder, shot by Luciano Tovoli. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Clint Mansell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Lee Percy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Sandra Bullock and Ben Chaplin and Ryan Gosling carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The only flaw in their plan was her.".
8IMDB entry: tt0264935 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 11 themes, including "high school", "homicide", "detective", "fbi".

The technical file

Cinematography: Luciano Tovoli
Original score: Clint Mansell
Editing: Lee Percy
Production design: Stuart Wurtzel
Costume design: Carol Oditz
Makeup / hair: Valli O'Reilly
VFX supervisor: Charles Gibson
Sound: Tom Fleischman
Stunt coordinator: Norman Howell
Runtime: 120 min · 2h 0m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $50,000,000
Box office: $56,714,147
Return: 113% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Murder by Numbers (2002)

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Barbet Schroeder

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-06-19
★ 6/10
A pact made with relentless fire that requires that, while some live, others die. A modern spin on the Leopold and Loeb case, directed by Barbet Schroeder and starring Sandra Bullock as a cop with emotional baggage trying to prove that two high school kids (Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt) have committed what they think is the perfect murder - just for kicks, allegedly. There's nothing exactly awful about the film, it's well performed by the principal players, engrossing in narrative, beautifully lensed by Luciano Tovoli and Schroeder layers the production with a suitable feeling of unease. Sadly there's no psychological depth given the two boys by writer Tony Gayton, which renders the whole motives and means, and the investigation of such, as being a shallow exercise in thriller film making. Running at two hours in length doesn't help matters, because this further irritates that more meat was not written onto Gosling and Pitt's bones, while it also exposes just how hackneyed and clichéd the picture is. Which when the story should be psychologically profound, marks this out as a frustrating viewing experience. 6/10
JPV8522021-01-01
★ 6/10
Decent crime-thriller that I saw back in 2002 (probably in theaters as I did go on a weekly basis back then) and while never really impressed me, still found it watchable thanks to the performances from a young Ryan Gosling (only his fifth film) and Michael Pitt, and Sandra Bullock was alright as a damaged homicide detective. Plot plays like an episode of Criminal Minds, which isn't a bad thing to me. Also fun seeing Nick Offerman in a bit role. 3.25/5
CinemaSerf2022-07-06
★ 5/10
There is something of "Compulsion" (1959) to this drama as Sandra Bullock plays another cop on the outskirts of her team. She is "Cassie", a woman with intimacy issues who gets teamed up with "Sam" (Ben Chaplin) whom she toys with as if he were a kitten both personally and on their case to investigate what looks like the perfect murder. A distinct lack of clues leads her bloodhound nose to a school where, without the slightest shred of evidence, she alights on the wealthy "Haywood" (Ryan Gosling) to whom she takes an instant dislike. Further ferreting around lead the pair to "Pendleton" (Michael Pitt) who is partial to a little caviar, as was the corpse. Might they all be connected? I've rarely seen a potentially decent ensemble cast wasted like this. Bullock just isn't at the races, her character is frankly really quite boring and the rapport with the out of his depth Chaplin just doesn't work. There is the glimmer of an homo-erotic relationship between Gosling and the always enigmatic Pitt, but I think maybe that is just because my brain was scrabbling around trying to find a reason to make it through this really disappointing feature. In the end it is a battle of wills, and those who seem to hold all the aces play their hand as if their arms had been amputated; serendipity plays way too big a part in the denouement and at just shy of two hours, I found myself looking out of the window at the seagulls more than I might have liked. Not very good!