Review of The Oxford Murders (2008) by Brooke L — 21 Aug 2010

To be accepted to Oxford, one might assume that Martin (played by Elijah Wood) was a brilliant student. Too bad he didn't spend more time studying philosophy instead of mathematics. He might have learned about "Occam's Razor". This is the principle that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

To say more would require a "spoiler alert". Let me say instead that this movie tried so hard to be intellectual, but complicated mathematics get completely in the way.

In the end, Inspector Petersen would have been well-advised to ignore the scholarly advice from the egg-headed professor and his prodigy. Instead, he should have followed his instincts and focused his investigation on ---the creepy people with motives---.

He may also want to rethink his policy of giving possible suspects full access to the police station and letting them take home crime scene pictures and other evidence.

I gave the move a rating of 20%. But 10% was earned by putting Leonor Watling in a scene with nothing but an apron.