Like Hugh Grant, Sandra Bullock is probably at her best in romantic comedies. And while there's only so much of her goofy persona that anyone who wishes to maintain a tight grip on their sanity can take, it's eminently preferable to her work as a dramatic actress. Lacking range and expression, Bullock seems to think that 'doing serious' requires a few sarcastic quips and a perpetual grimmance. She plays Cassie Mayweather, a troubled Californian homicide detective. When we meet her, she's about to break in a new partner, Sam Kennedy (Chaplin). But when a couple of teenagers, Justin (Pitt) and Richard (Gosling) decide to carry out the perfect murder, the cops have their work cut for them. Formulaic fare, there's little in Murder By Numbers that you haven't executed (sorry) better elsewhere. Gosling (The Believer) and Pitt do excellent work as the killers, giving their roles far more dimension than the film deserves, and Chaplin does his best. The subtext of the relationships between the four central protagonists is interesting for a while, but like everything else here, it runs out of steam before the overblown finale.
