No, that isn’t a typo, that’s almost the cool way they write out this movie’s title. And a pretty cool movie it turns out to be.

It’s the story of two teen aged kids, one a brilliant nerd, the other a nasty, snotty rich type, and their plan to get away with murder. Sandra Bullock plays Cassie/Jessie, the homicide detective out to foil their plan. Ben Chaplin plays Sam, her partner and soon to be lover.

Now Sandra’s character is named Cassie/Jessie for a reason – let’s just say she comes with a lot of emotional baggage which makes her a great homicide detective, but not such a great person much of the time. And, actually, her past takes up a big part of this movie’s time. Which is good at first, and later becomes a bit of a clichéd bore.

But let’s focus on the good stuff and there is plenty of it. The boys are clearly the killers from the outset and do the old “frame some fat slob routine”. Sam and most of the homicide guys buy into it, but, of course, not Jessie. But watch her pick up the clues and I have to say, it looks like real police work and not some “pie in the sky” only in Hollywood plot tricks. For instance, the killers say they don’t know each other very well, but Cassie picks up an expression they both use which clues her in to their relationship. She also plays around to refigure the time of death, and that’s convincing too.It’s like watching a better version of “C.S.I.”. Not that I’ve seen that show.

What’s also pretty interesting is the relationship between the two killers. Are they gay or what? One is the introvert, the other the extrovert, but who is really in charge? And are they really in love and can’t figure out how to express it other than to kill someone together? Do these questions intrigue you? They suddenly take this movie out of the ordinary murder story into something much deeper, even better than trying to figure out Cassie’s past. Ah, maybe that’s too much for all of you, but I loved it.

But don’t give up on the main story – it’s still a good one. Cassie has to piece the puzzle together and then squeeze the boys into confessing. That’s compelling too. And I love this “hurt” character that Bullock plays. She’s the usual tomboy, tough girl, but it’s kind of a hoot the way she drags Sam into bed with her by playing the guy part to his shy, tentative girl.

“Murder B8 Num8bers” is anything but a “by the numbers” story, from the killing to the complicated people involved in it. I give it an “8.0” on the 1 to 10 scale.