Release Date:
04/19/2002
Sandra Bullock is trying really, really hard to change her image from the dark-haired Meg Ryan into something tougher, more serious, and more substantial: She did the semi-dark hitman comedy Gun Shy, then the addiction-themed (but still fluffy) 28 Days, and most recently the rom-com Miss Congeniality, which found Ms. Bullock trying to play a tough FBI agent. Since none of these did the trick, she has decided to scrap the Nora Ephron with an edge route and just go for the all-out thriller. Sadly, shell have to go back to the drawing board, because Murder by Numbers ends up not being all that thrilling.
While its good form to give your hero, especially in a crime thriller, a dark background that drives her relentless pursuit of justice, its not good form to have it crowd out the drama at hand. Bullocks Cassie Mayweather is all quirks and problems, and they are explored much more frequently than the relationship and motives of the murderers shes tracking, leaving Murder by Numbers feeling hollow (without giving too much away, lets just say that the two kids relationship is never really clearly defined). There are some nice twists and scenes that genuinely work, but in the end it all gets too routine for its own good. Young stars Ryan Gosling (last seem in the riveting The Believer, here asked to do nothing more than emote with his eyebrows) and Michael Pitt (the protégé-rival from Hedwig and the Angry Inch) try their best to be interesting, but theyre grasping at straws. But, hey, if you have to sit through a Sandra Bullock movie, this ones probably the least painful.
While its good form to give your hero, especially in a crime thriller, a dark background that drives her relentless pursuit of justice, its not good form to have it crowd out the drama at hand. Bullocks Cassie Mayweather is all quirks and problems, and they are explored much more frequently than the relationship and motives of the murderers shes tracking, leaving Murder by Numbers feeling hollow (without giving too much away, lets just say that the two kids relationship is never really clearly defined). There are some nice twists and scenes that genuinely work, but in the end it all gets too routine for its own good. Young stars Ryan Gosling (last seem in the riveting The Believer, here asked to do nothing more than emote with his eyebrows) and Michael Pitt (the protégé-rival from Hedwig and the Angry Inch) try their best to be interesting, but theyre grasping at straws. But, hey, if you have to sit through a Sandra Bullock movie, this ones probably the least painful.