Suppose you want to do something perfect. But can you doanything perfect? No. But, if you do something that fools everyone and they don'tknow you did it, wouldn't that be perfect? But what could you possibly do thatwould impact an entire community, something that would bring recognition to anunknown artist?

Murder. The perfect murder, with all the right evidenceplaced in all the right spots to fool a team of investigators. And how do you doit? Philosophy, research and countless hours of planning, that's how. Amurderer's philosophy states that a man can plan a murder, but it takes a freeman to commit the murder. So, are you free? Do you think you can do it?

In"Murder By Numbers," Sandra Bullock stars as a murder investigator witha dark past. The story is simple - two high-school seniors want to commit theperfect murder - but the way it's presented is astounding. Twists here, extraevents there, sudden occurrences; it really keeps you on your toes. Missing onescene can make the rest of the movie confusing. It keeps you guessing which ofthe two really committed the murder.

Bullock's performance is a littlesloppy, very one-sided. She is an odd murder investigator, and that's about it.Ryan

Gosling's performance as Justin is wonderful; he plays a teenagertorn between love for a woman and his best friend - and a scaredmurderer?

The ending is abrupt and ruins the movie. It leaves you saying,"Huh?" Then again, most of the scenes leave you saying "Huh?"But hey, that's what sequels are for.

Overall, this movie is average butworth renting. Don't buy it unless you're a hard-core murder mystery moviefanatic and watch "Matlock" every night.
This movie is rated R.