Murder By Numbers
Murder by Numbers is a neat concept. What if people who know all about murders decide to commit a murder? Pretty cool, huh?
And what if they were high school students?
Alright, that seems strange. It actually makes it creepier -- the high school students are definitely Columbine types, the kind who have somehow strayed so far from society (and yet right under our noses) that they are no longer capable of empathy. In the case of Murder by Numbers, the two main characters -- in a relationship with mildly homosexual undertones -- decide to prove they are truly free by intentionally committing murder.
It sounds better in the movie than in print.
The woman assigned to this case is Cassie Mayweather, played by Sandra Bullock. Let me state my bias up front: I really like Sandra Bullock. Her button-nosed cuteness allows me to forgive her when she makes crappy movies like Miss Congeniality. She had me at The Net.
But you've got to be realistic even about the actors you like. And Sandra's just out of her league here.
Like Jet Li in The One, this is a complex plot that requires a range of acting abilities that Sandra simply doesn't possess. She's supposed to be a woman with a dark past, a near-death murder victim, a survivor of physical abuse, a licentious woman who sleeps with her partners at a whim. This is not Sandra. And usually, Sandra plays movies around her own carefully cultivated movie personality.
In short, this movie requires actual acting.
She can't do it. Not for lack of trying. But Sandra comes off as cutesy flirtatious when she's supposed to be a maneater. She comes off as an agitated socialite with a headache rather than a down and dirty cop who was nearly stabbed to death. She's much more victim than survivor.
And of course, what Sandra does best is play the victim. She survives, but she's not a SURVIVOR.
The ending has a twist. It's not a great twist. The movie is creepy, but not fast enough to pull it off. The actors who play the high school students are disturbing, but they are not so competent to make it genuinely horrifying.
Slow. Plodding. Not genuinely real enough characters to make us worry about them or believe their plight. A workman-like effort, but not Sandra's best work.
And what if they were high school students?
Alright, that seems strange. It actually makes it creepier -- the high school students are definitely Columbine types, the kind who have somehow strayed so far from society (and yet right under our noses) that they are no longer capable of empathy. In the case of Murder by Numbers, the two main characters -- in a relationship with mildly homosexual undertones -- decide to prove they are truly free by intentionally committing murder.
It sounds better in the movie than in print.
The woman assigned to this case is Cassie Mayweather, played by Sandra Bullock. Let me state my bias up front: I really like Sandra Bullock. Her button-nosed cuteness allows me to forgive her when she makes crappy movies like Miss Congeniality. She had me at The Net.
But you've got to be realistic even about the actors you like. And Sandra's just out of her league here.
Like Jet Li in The One, this is a complex plot that requires a range of acting abilities that Sandra simply doesn't possess. She's supposed to be a woman with a dark past, a near-death murder victim, a survivor of physical abuse, a licentious woman who sleeps with her partners at a whim. This is not Sandra. And usually, Sandra plays movies around her own carefully cultivated movie personality.
In short, this movie requires actual acting.
She can't do it. Not for lack of trying. But Sandra comes off as cutesy flirtatious when she's supposed to be a maneater. She comes off as an agitated socialite with a headache rather than a down and dirty cop who was nearly stabbed to death. She's much more victim than survivor.
And of course, what Sandra does best is play the victim. She survives, but she's not a SURVIVOR.
The ending has a twist. It's not a great twist. The movie is creepy, but not fast enough to pull it off. The actors who play the high school students are disturbing, but they are not so competent to make it genuinely horrifying.
Slow. Plodding. Not genuinely real enough characters to make us worry about them or believe their plight. A workman-like effort, but not Sandra's best work.
posted by talien | 4:40 PM
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