Was Murder by Numbers the Ultimate 2000s Psychological Thriller?

What do you get when you mix Ryan Gosling, Sandra Bullock, murder, thumb rings, bad hair, and one deeply disturbing baboon? Somehow, you get a comfort movie.

Natalie Sanderson Jones and Angela Bingham put their books down and dive into Murder by Numbers, the 2002 psychological thriller starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Gosling, and Michael Pitt. They unpack the movie's deliberately confusing plot, the shifting power dynamic between its two teenage killers, and the unmistakable psychological and erotic tension lurking beneath the murder plot.

They also revisit the movie's very early-2000s fashion and hair choices, Sandra Bullock's tough-cop persona, the film's Hitchcockian influence, and the real-life Leopold and Loeb case that inspired the story.

Plus, they debate Ryan Gosling's early acting chops, the movie's bizarre baboon subplot, why this isn't really a traditional whodunit, and why Murder by Numbers somehow works as the perfect Saturday-afternoon comfort thriller.

It's nostalgic, ridiculous, surprisingly thoughtful, and exactly the kind of movie discussion you expect from Put Your Books Down.

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