Murder By Numbers
USA 2002. Director: Barbet Schroeder
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ben Chaplin, Ryan Gosling, Chris Penn

Two students kills a third just because they think they are superior to everyone else, especially to the cops, and no one will or can suspect them. A cat & mouse game begins and the two students are ultimately turning against each other. Who will break first? Murder By Numbers was clearly made for Sandra Bullock to show she can do something different and she tries hard in ponytail and dark suit, only not many will buy her as a tough homicide detective with emotional problems. It just doesn't work. The result is a dark and offbeat mixture of a character study (Bullock's cop) and a messy (as in violent) psychological slasher. It's a fair if unsuspenseful and predictable crime story at the bottom, though, kinda like an updated version of Hitchcock's Rope, but despite being well directed and acted it all feels too contrived and, frankly, too weird to be enjoyable. A misfire.