Murder by Numbers

"The only flaw in their plan was her."

Apr 19 2002 R 1h 55m
Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Tenacious homicide detective Cassie Mayweather and her still-green partner are working a murder case, attempting to profile two malevolently brilliant young men: cold, calculating killers whose dark secrets might explain their crimes.

Plot

Richard Haywood, a Californian high school's coolest kid, secretly teams up with another rich kid in his class, brilliant nerd Justin 'Bonaparte' Pendleton, whose erudition, specially in forensic matters, allows them to plan elaborately perfect murders, just for the kick, for which they set up Richard's marijuana supplier, their school's janitor Ray Feathers, as a psychotic serial killer. The case is assigned to detectives Cassie 'the hyena' Mayweather, who carries a sequoia-size chip on the shoulder from her previous life, and her brilliant new partner, Sam Kennedy, who just transferred from the vice squad; they can work together very well, and even fit romantically, but fall out over different professional attitudes towards the investigation, which Captain Rod Cody and her understandably vindictive abused ex, Assistant D.A. Al Swanson, soon ban her from when she disobeys instructions and hand to him. When the plotting boys both dig class-mate Lisa Mills, their unnatural bond comes under stress- will it break, allowing the hard-pressed police to bring them down?

Written by

Tony Gayton

Directed by

Barbet Schroeder

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures, Schroeder Hoffman Productions, Castle Rock Entertainment

Languages

English

Awards

2 nominations

Scores
# of Votes
64,161
Average Rating
6.2 out of 10
Metascore
50
Popularity
NA