Review of Murder by Numbers (2002) by Filipeneto — 17 Dec 2018

In this film, two abnormal students decide to perpetrate the perfect crime, but things start to go wrong when an experienced detective mistrusts them. We have seen similar things before, the film is not exactly original in the subject it addresses, being clearly inspired by the crime committed by Leopold and Loeb, decades earlier.

The movie never hides anything. From the beginning, we know almost everything that will happen and who the killer is. So there is no secret or mystery and it spoils the movie a lot. The relationship between the two boys is quite dysfunctional and even conveys the idea of a certain latent homosexuality between them. To make matters worse, they both correspond to two detestable juvenile stereotypes (one is the typical impersonal nerd, the other is the rich, idiot guy). In turn, the detective is the typical "macho girl".

The actors are fairly decent in their work. Sandra Bullock is very competent and does a fine work. Ryan Gosling is good and gives his character an almost magnetic charisma in a deeply disturbing interpretation. Michael Pitt is not far behind in a clearly crazy character.

Overall, it's a decent movie, but it loses a lot for the absence of mystery and for giving of tray everything that the public should wait to discover.