Reception
Reviews for the film were generally mixed. Rotten Tomatoes awarded a 31% "Rotten" based on 125 reviews, thiry-nine being "fresh" and eighty-six being "rotten" with a consensus stating "A predictable police procedural that works better as a character study rather than a thriller." Roger Ebert awarded three stars out of a possible four with his own consensus, stating: "Bullock does a good job here of working against her natural likability, creating a character you'd like to like, and could like, if she weren't so sad, strange and turned in upon herself. She throws herself into police work not so much because she's dedicated as because she needs the distraction, needs to keep busy and be good to assure herself of her worth. As she draws the net closer, and runs into more danger and more official opposition, the movie more or less helplessly starts thinking to itself about that cliff above the sea, but at least the climax shows us that Bullock can stay in character no matter what."
Read more about this topic: Murder By Numbers
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