By: debbie lynn elias
Long a fan of Sandra Bullock, be it in thrillers such as “The Net,”, uproariously funny comedies like “Miss Congeniality”, dramas like “Hope Floats” or a mix of everything like “Practical Magic,” it pains me to confess my disappointment with her latest performance as Cassie Mayweather, homicide detective, in “Murder By Numbers.” Certainly not for lack of effort on Bullock’s part, the failure seems to lie on the uneven – and at times, unbelievable – scripting of Tony Gayton, whose work can also be seen this week in “The Salton Sea.”
Loosely based on the 1924 murder of Bobby Franks by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb,”Murder by Numbers” is the story of high school killers, the manipulative Richard Haywood and the brilliant Justin Pendleton, obsessed with the game of committing the perfect murder. Rich, privileged and ignored by their parents, Richard and Justin reek of arrogance (and latent homoeroticism), believing themselves to be above the law and law enforcement. Using a theory of random selection, the boys pick a victim with no ties to themselves, torture and kill her and leave obvious, but often generic, clues for the police to find. Naturally, the clues point to another poor innocent with whom they wish to toy.
Enter Cassie Mayweather, tough, enigmatic and emotionally scarred veteran homicide detective of the San Benito Police Department, who believes in her gut feelings more than the evidence. Burdened with fear and a lot of emotional baggage, Cassie’s obsession for solving this murder rivals that of Richard and Justin in committing it. Paired with vice cop Sam Kennedy, after meeting our little sociopaths, Cassie is convinced in the guilt of Richard and Justin while Sam looks to the “planted” trail of clues, putting the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle – just as our killers intended. Despite the arrest of the school janitor, Cassie still believes Richard and Justin to be real killers, and over departmental vetoes, proceeds with her investigation, eventually dragging the lackluster, by-the-book Sam into her camp.
Former Mouseketeer and Jewish skinhead in “The Believer,” Ryan Gosling gives an unnerving performance here as the charismatically psychotic Richard while the androgynously tinged Michael Pitt is as equally compelling as the brilliant but girlish Justin Pendleton. Put them together and they are explosively riveting and let’s face it – the saving grace of the film. Ben Chaplin as Sam looks and acts like death warmed over – devoid of any personality and dull, dull, dull. No wonder Cassie sends him home and won’t let him spend the night with her!
Gayton does a commendable job with describing the forensics and crime solving methodology aspects of the film, but falls to unbelievability when putting Cassie in one-on-one scenarios with the psycho Richard. Come on, now! What female (or male for that matter) homicide detective is going to be taken to task by a high school senior, letting herself be in a position to allow him to sexually touch her, attempt to stick his tongue down her throat — and not even fight back but for flailing misguided hand slaps? Bullock, in her capacity as both executive producer and star, sells herself short and completely compromises her character by even allowing these type of scenes to stand. Want an intellectual duel between Cassie and Richard? Want to show Cassie’s vulnerability? There are much more effective and better ways to show it without losing the character’s integrity.
Directed by the internationally renowned Barbet Schroeder, “Murder by Numbers” pales in comparison to his earlier works, such as “Reversal of Fortune”, “Barfly” and “Single White Female.” Looking more like direct-by-numbers, the film is almost stereotypical – lagging, dragging and for the most part, lacking scenes with any real impact or “oomph.” Obsessed with showing us the killers eluding detection, Schroeder and Gayton also miss a beat by failing to give any real explanation for the killers’ obsession with killing, which leaves a gaping hole in the storyline.
This is a film about obsession – obsession with getting away with murder – obsession with solving a murder – obsession with showing how to elude capture in a murder. Sadly, the audience won’t be obsessed with watching it.
