Rating: 
Summary: OK movie, just a little unconvincing.
Review: Summary:
Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock) is a tough-nosed detective who also happens to have been the intended victim of a botched murder by her first husband. When two young men, Richard Haywood (Ryan Gosling) & Justin Pendleton (Michael Pitt (II)), who grew up with silver spoons and are both very smart, decide to commit a murder just to see if they can get away with it, Cassie and her new partner, Sam Kennedy (Ben Chaplin), are called upon to crack the case. Richard and Justin have designed the case so it will appear that Richard's drug dealer, Ray (Chris Penn), was the one responsible. All of the evidence falls perfectly into place, but Cassie just doesn't believe the evidence and pushes after the young men until she is caught up in the seduction that lead to the crime in the first place.My Comments:
I'm going to have to admit that the story actually seemed plausible and followed a logical pattern. Even the twists and turns that I didn't predict made sense in retrospect. That's a pretty good achievement for an action/psycho thriller. As for the acting, I actually thought that Sandra Bullock was the weakest character, but that may just be because I didn't find her portrayal of a woman that had been mentally and physically abused by a previous husband to be convincing. I particularly enjoyed the performances of the two young men, Ryan Gosling & Michael Pitt. The casting seemed to fit the roles perfectly.... They made it pretty obvious in the gymnasium when the detectives first interviewed Richard that the ring was going to play an important part in the story later on, but the role it ultimately played didn't really matter all that much. The only other major criticism I have is that the pacing was a bit slow. It could be that the pacing was slow because they were really trying to push the background story of Cassie dealing with her psychological problems resulting from the abuse of her first husband. But it wasn't a particularly compelling sub-story and slowed the movie. Overall, the movie could have been better, but was entertaining enough to keep my attention throughout (though I should admit that I was riding an exercise bike for about 40 minutes of the movie). With the ever-increasing prevalence of youth violence, characters like Richard and Justin probably aren't too far-fetched in modern day America. It may be a sad statement that I can watch a movie like this and believe that something like it could take place, or perhaps, as Michael Moore might say, that is exactly what the 'Culture of Fear' in the U.S. wants me to believe. Either way, the movie is an interesting thought exploration. If you enjoy psycho-thrillers, then you'll want to see this one, but don't expect too much.
Rating:
Summary: A good murder mystery movie, but deeply flawed.
Review: I didn't expect this movie to be that great. I enjoyed this flick surprisingly. It's not the greatest I've ever seen but seeing the directions the movie took was fun, and I was at least interested in the overall story. There were problems with this movie, it goes on for too long for one thing and had me uninterested in many parts in the movie. Ben Chaplin also seems kind of uncomfortable here. I don't like him as an actor. He [tried] in Birthday Girl and didn't enjoy his performance here either. At times the movie just didn't take the right direction but I can't quite remember as I finished the DVD a while ago. I really liked Sandra Bullock here, she goes against type for once and it works. She gives a strong performance. Not as strong as the two teenagers (Michael Pitt off Dawson's Creek is especially impressive) who practically made this movie for me. They were brilliant - I see big stars ahead. I loved the conclusion of the movie and the way it unraviled and nothing was as it seemed. Better than your average by-the-numbers thriller, but not overwhelming or anything.
Rating: 
Summary: You've Seen It All Before
Review: Ponderous, but not particularly enlightening or entertaining, "Murder by Numbers" struggles as a thriller, despite the fact that it features just about every cliche one would expect in a cat-and-mouse cop movie. right down to the "You're getting in too deep" speech by the boss. Sandra Bullock stars as Casey Mayweather, modern cinema's cockeyed idea of a heroine. She is stoic, selfish--though, of course, we're to believe that's really just because she's emotionally vulnerable--hard-drinking and sexually aggressive. In short, she behaves like the stereotype of a man until half way through the film when she gets to develop actual human feelings, and the only reason we should care about anything she does seems to be her looks. Bullock chooses to show these qualities mostly by talking deeper and slower than usual and not smiling unless she's doing something mean-spirited or self-satisfying. Oh, and to be particularly gritty, she keeps her hair in a ponytail. The actual story seems to take about an hour too long to tell. Two creepy and smarmy but privileged high schoolers in California (once more shown by Hollywood as a racial undiverse state, desite reality) decide to kill a woman for the thrill and challenge. Mayweather chases them. It's nothing you haven't seen before in one form or another, just not as good; at the very least, Columbo dished out better versions of the same idea every week. Minor diversions in the story, such as Mayweather's seducing her partner, generally make her character seem like a pig rather than a rebel, and the fact that she survived an abusive relationship that apparently motivates her interest in the case only seems tacked on. Even a scene where one of the killers comes on to her and she injures him while half-heartedly thwarting his advances is particularly odd. She's more invested in the killer's welfare--a wormy guy whose power over people is baffling--at that moment than she was after sleeping with her befuddled partner, who seems to be falling for her. In the end, the story winds its way to a conclusion which is neither suprising nor revelatory.
Rating:
Summary: ok movie
Review: well, i got this movie thinking it would be good cause i enjoy thrillers and especially love mike pitt and think hes a pretty good actor and i like sandra bullock but this movie [wasn't very good]. it keeps you interested till the last 20 min then it makes no sense at all and the special effects or whatever they use for the final scene look so unbelievable and so corny. i dont know i just didnt get this movie, it was pretty boring and it wasnt good. highest it deserves is 2 or 3 stars, i purchased this movie i recomend you dont purchase it . you will watch it once then never again most likely.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth your time
Review: I rented, I saw, I forgot in 10 minutes. This is all I can say.
Boys are good actors (thus 2 stars), mrs. Bullock is, sorry to say, not.
Rating:
Summary: MURD3R 8Y NUM8ERS
Review: Homicide cop Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock, who also executive produced)discovers the body of a female strangulation victim wrapped in plastic. But the problem with the investigation is that two rich kids, Michael Haywood (Ryan Gosling from BELIEVER) and Justin "Bonepart" Pendleton (Michael Pitt) have planned the murder and are observing the cops as they uncover each clue they have planted for them.
Directed by Barbet Schroeder (SWF, BARFLY) MURDER BY NUMBERS sometimes echoes Hitchcock's ROPE. Gosling and Pitt are good as the rich kids whose "perfect murder" turns out to be anything but. The planning behind the murder will fascinate crime buffs, and MURDER BY NUMBERS basic premise is helped considerably by strong performances from Gosling and Pitt; though the movie tends to fluctuate a bit in the last half hour. Still recommended. Luciano Tovoli's atmospheric photography aids greatly in helping maintain viewer interest.
Rating:
Summary: Sandra Took The Spotlight Too Much
Review: Two high school teenagers decide to kill someone to free themselves from the constraints of society. They appear to be at first very borderline and intriguing. But the producer's put so little development into their characters we don't see very much of that internal motication. We are presented with this codependant relationship that the killers have yet we are never told why they need each other or why this dependancy exists. The police officer Sandra Bullock has many demons of her own and what made her go into police work. I think the movie may have tried to take on too many plots and it ended up not developing either one of them very well. The acting is good but the storyline falls behind. I think the movie should have concentrated more on the killers and backed off the cop character. I think this is a case where the movie casted too big an actor(Bullock) for a part that shouldn't have played as big a part in the movie. I recommend renting it, but it probably isn't a very good addition to a DVD collection unless you are a huge Bullock fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Good and bad, but entertaining.
Review: Frankly, I gave this 4 stars because I was pleasantly surprised to see Sandra Bullock in a believable role. I really feel she has more to offer, and this showed a depth of emotion that most of her films over the last 5 years don't show. So...one of those stars is specifically for that. In fact, all of the acting was well done. The movie itself...really only deserves 3. As with the other reviews, I'll reiterate. 2 High School (we assume 18 yo) Seniors commit a murder, for the sake of proving they can create a forensically misleading case for the police who come to investigate the crime. Those two lucky homicide investigators are Cassy/Sandra Bullock (with her dark victim-paralleled skeletons), and Sam/Ben Chaplin (a veteran cop, but Cassy's new partner). And, while Sam follows the 'planted' crime scene leads to a textbook perpetrator...Cassy's personal obsessions cause her to be skeptical and objective toward other possibilities. There were two main problems with this movie. First...the continuity was confusing. You are faced with the reality of Cassy's demons WAY too late in the movie. Subsequently, you spend just enough time in her dream sequences to be frustrated at "just what the heck am I supposed to be getting out of this?" The other problem, essentially, was the end of the movie. Where we find out some disappointing truths, and watch a [painfully] predictably bad ending. I will admit that the special effects on the ending, and throughout the movie really, were well done. Details like activity outside of windows in apartment scenes, etc. were all done rather well. One final note...is that there was this recurring homosexual overtone in the movie. It was never developed, only implied...and then ambiguously ignored when creating dissention between the 2 antoganists. That was confusing...and either should have been developed or left out of the film completely.
Rating:
Summary: not worth buying
Review: i got this movie because i thought the story sounded good and i liked the actors. ( sandra bullock and mike pitt)-from bully. but the movie was no good, at first it was a little interesting but as time went on it got more stupid by the minute and the part at the end is bad , the end of the story [was not good] so i wouldnt advise getting this movie. if u want to see it , rent it , definetly dont buy this.
Rating:
Summary: Characters Are Inconsistent
Review: I liked this movie, but in the last half hour, the characters seem to turn into their antitheses--they react in the opposite manner to which the movie spent the first two-thirds establishing. Sandra Bullock as Cassie is tough as a brick wall for most of the movie. When Richard confronts her as she spies on him from her car, she wimpers and gasps like a big sissy. Sure, Richard reminds her of her ex-husband who tried to kill her, but the reaction is actually overreaction. The same can be said when she is hanging over a cliff. She's screaming like a big wuss after the movie has tried to cram it down the viewers throat that she is tough as nails. Bullock should have downplayed her character's fear just a little. Another example of inconsistent characterization: toward the end of the movie, as the two teenage boys start to get caught up in the web they weaved, they too, like Cassie, begin to crumble in uncharacteristic fashion. At first, Richard is so cocky and self-assured, and Justin is deep and philosophical. As Cassie closes in on them they lose their cool, maybe just a little too much. Richard and Justin begin acting like two kids who are having a party while their parents are away and the parents suddenly pull into the driveway early. The movie becomes a parody of itself. The characters start off interesting. I wish the movie gave more clues on Richard and Justin's codependent relationship. I wasn't totally convinced or understood why they needed each other. Cassie's ex-husband being up for parole provided for an interesting subplot, but I thought her tough as nails exterior transformation into a petrified victim of a stalker was a stretch. Overall, I enjoyed "Murder by Numbers" but I was surprised how the characters become melodramatic toward the end.
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