10 Films You Loved As A Teen, But Should Never Watch Again

2. Murder By Numbers

Warner Bros. Pictures

We've all wondered how to commit the perfect murder, haven't we? Not of anyone specific, of course, just as a kind of fun hypothetical. Well, Murder By Numbers turns this question into a movie, with Sandra Bullock playing a cop attempting to prove that a young Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt are responsible for a seemingly perfect, untraceable crime.

Murder By Numbers is a crime thriller that you'd have appreciated before moving onto something like Seven. It struck a chord with young teens because it played on the bad-boy fantasy. Adolescent brats like me always wanted to prove that they were cleverer than the adults around them. Murder By Numbers took that one-upmanship to the absolute limit, and I don't think I was the only kid who was rooting for Pitt and Gosling to get away with their crime (but then, rooting against Bullock always came very easily to me).

The cool premise and solid performances concealed the film's many flaws that you'd pedantically pick apart as an adult. We know a murder happened, we know they're going to get caught. Rather than focus on the murder investigation, which was only ever going to end one way, it could've delved deeper into the killers' minds, rather than portray murder as an elaborate high-school prank.

Contributor
Contributor

Gamer, Researcher of strange things. I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.