Directed by Barbet Schroeder
Written by Tony Gayton

Sandra Bullock .... Cassie Mayweather
Ryan Gosling .... Richard Haywood
Michael Pitt (II) .... Justin Pendleton
Agnes Bruckner .... Lisa
Chris Penn .... Ray
R.D. Call .... Rod
Ben Chaplin .... Sam Kennedy
Tom Verica .... Al Swanson

Produced by
Sandra Bullock .... executive producer
Jeffrey Stott .... executive producer
Richard Crystal .... producer
Susan Hoffman .... producer
Barbet Schroeder .... producer
Frank Capra III .... co-producer

Original music by Clint Mansell
Cinematography by Luciano Tovoli
Film Editing by Lee Percy

MPAA: Rated R for violence, language, a sex scene and brief drug use.
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM, and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG

Trailer
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The body of a young woman is found in a ditch in the woods of the small California coastal town of San Benito. SANDRA BULLOCK stars as Cassie Mayweather, the seasoned homicide detective and crime scene specialist assigned to the case along with her new partner Sam Kennedy (BEN CHAPLIN).

The two detectives make their way through microscopic hints of evidence, which seem to indicate a random act of violence, but Cassie has a gut feeling that there is more to this murder than meets the eye. Something about this case reminds her of her past exactly at a time when she is asked to appear at a parole hearing on an old police matter. These events force Cassie to revisit the past.

Cassie pours her heart into solving the mystery. She intently focuses on the gathering and analysis of the available evidence and meticulously sculpts an image of the killer from the scant clues left behind at the crime scene. Her new partner Sam is smart and eager. His patience and inherent goodness compliment Cassie's razor sharp intelligence and dry wit. He seems happy to have such a brilliant mentor in Cassie and is willing to overlook her rocky history with partners.

Following the evidence leads the two detectives to a young man named Richard Haywood (RYAN GOSLING), whose unique pair of boots (which he reported stolen from his locker) may have been worn by the killer at the crime scene. Richard is very cooperative and has an airtight alibi. Cassie and Richard click in a way that really sets Cassie on edge. She suspects there is more to Richard's story lurking underneath his carefree exterior.

After meeting Richard, Cassie and Sam begin to view the evidence in two different ways. Sam continues to paint a picture composed of all the microscopic elements left by the killer. Cassie uncharacteristically seems to spin out on instincts, hunches and ghosts from her past. She swirls all of these elements together into a very disturbing theory that Richard Haywood and his secret friend, Justin Pendleton (MICHAEL PITT), came together to commit a perfect crime. Her belief in this theory cuts her off from Sam and eventually jeopardizes her authority on the job.

Richard and Justin are unlikely friends. Although they are both from comfortable middle class families, their personalities couldn't be more opposite. Justin is a bookish self-loathing romantic living in a world of Rimbaud and Nietzsche, isolated in his brilliance, lonely in a broken home. Richard on the other hand is a smooth, charming, manipulative cynic. He uses his good looks and clever mind to play with people's emotions just for fun. He's a natural born psychologist like most sociopaths.

These are boys whose parents live separate lives from their sons. The boys are tied to their parents by the material things the parents provide. They don't have to work or be responsible. Their families are independent worlds of their own, so they feel no ties of loyalty or responsibility to the greater community. The parents are material providers and achievers who pursue their careers with gusto, probably telling themselves they are doing it for their sons.

As different as Justin, the shy one, and Richard, the charming one, appear -- underneath they have a lot in common. They found each other and formed a secret friendship. They converted an abandoned lodge into a clubhouse where they secretly meet. Over the days and months they confided boyish secrets and fantasies. In what is undoubtedly the closest relationship either boy has ever had, they hatched a plan to guarantee their total loyalty to each other, to share an experience few have known?"let's try to commit the perfect murder!" Maybe it started as a joke, but the joke turned into a dare. At least that's Cassie's theory, a theory born out of her past and her brilliant talent as a forensic specialist.

Solving this "perfect murder" forces Cassie Mayweather to face and free herself from the tormented past she buried long ago.

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