Murder by Numbers is a 2002 psychological thriller film produced and directed by Barbet Schroeder. It stars Sandra Bullock, Ben Chaplin, Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt. It is loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb case.
The film was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
Richard Haywood, a wealthy and popular high-schooler, secretly teams up with another rich kid in his class, brilliant nerd Justin 'Bonaparte' Pendleton. His erudition, especially in forensic matters, allows them to plan elaborately perfect murders as a perverse form of entertainment. Meeting in a deserted resort, they drink absinthe, smoke, and joke around, but pretend to have an adversarial relationship while at school. Justin in particular behaves strangely, writing a paper about how crime is freedom and vice versa, and creating a composite photograph of himself and Richard.
The young men kill a woman and set up Richard's marijuana supplier, janitor Ray Feathers, as a psychotic serial killer. They then incinerate all evidence. The case is assigned to Detective Cassie Mayweather and her new partner, Sam Kennedy, who just transferred from the vice squad. They work together well, and begin a
(This is information generated from a Wikipedia article, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.)