28 Days

Rating:
Summary: Much better than I thought it would be. A big surprise!
Review: 28 Days

Score: 72/100

Boy, it has been some time since Sandra Bullock has made a good movie. Speed 2: Cruise Control and Forces With Nature were both serious flops with critics around the globe, and she hasn't been very well respected for a long time. But, this will be the film that puts her on track. 28 Days is a well-made and thought-provoking film that is much better than it looks, and it deserves a wide audience.

Gwen Cummings (Sandra Bullock) is a New York writer who just can't say no to drink or drugs. After crashing her sister's wedding car and ruining her wedding cake, Gwen is ordered into a rehabilitation centre, where she spends the next 28 days. At first she doesn't have much respect for the centre and tries to escape, but as her toxic levels come down, she gradually realises that maybe she can turn her life around.

The plot may sound lousy, but it isn't. It deals with human emotions properly and in a moving way, and 28 Days is able to put a smile on your lips and make tears come out of your eyes. Bullock is a stunner in this film, she is perfectly cast as Gwen, while Steve Buscemi is as brilliant as he always is, no doubt about that. Azura Skye, who co-stars as a friend of Gwen's, lights up the screen in an ignored performance which deserves praise. Susannah Grant, scriptwriter, seems to have a thing for making good actresses come back to their great standards. In the same year of release as 28 Days, Grant wrote Erin Brockovich, a brilliant legal drama that made Julia Robert's get the career-best nod. Now she can fix Sandra Bullock, and this could very well be Bullock's best film.

It has it's problems, some major ones, but 28 Days remains a worthy watch for all ages.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: This was a rental, and it was a pleasant surprise, as this film seemed to have not done too well at the box office. Sandra Bullock proves why she's one of Hollywood's top actresses -- she can act and people like her! She always seems to saturate her performances with sincerity, inviting audiences to relate to her characters, and it's no exception with Gwen. She's convincing and humourous as the alcoholic-in-denial, and we watch her come to terms with her addiction as the film progresses. Azura Skye also turns in a strong and sympathising performance as the drug addict who befriends Gwen. Viggo Mortensen, who was wonderful in A Perfect Murder, turns in a good performance; unfortunately, his character, Eddie, is underdeveloped, and one wonders why he's in the film to begin with. But despite that, the film is pleasant. It's not earth-shattering or a must-see (the ending is rather predictable), but it's a lot better than what else is on Blockbuster's shelves.

Rating:
Summary: Great acting, decent delivery
Review: The movie starts out with an interesting setup. Gwen Cummings (Sandra Bullock) is a young woman with an obvious alcohol problem. After a night of drinking, she wakes up late to her sister's wedding. She spends the entire time going to the wedding drinking and ultimate ruins her sisters wedding by falling in the cake and then wrecking the limo going to get another one. For her actions, she is given a choice of rehab or jail. She chooses rehab.

Interesting film with some great acting. However, the plot twists are a bit contrived. At first, she is just doing time, but, in a moment of insanity realizes that she needs help and begs to stay.

From then on, her turnaround, from doing time to cooperative inmate, is almost on the verge of miraculous. And, this is where certain parts of the plot stop working and break the illusion created by an otherwise excellent film. This is not all that bad, but a bit more work on the script, and this could have been an award winner.

If you have ever read Syd Field's book Screenplay, you can see the plot devices coming out. From lifting a horse's hoof to possible rehab romance, this movie is formula all the way.

But, it works. Somehow, through all of the veneer created, a touching story shines through. If you decide to see this one, don't expect another Sandra Bullock comedy. While there are some funny moments, the tragedy of the characters' problems overshadows most of the humor.

Rating:
Summary: Forgetable Film
Review: My actual rating for this film would be 2.5 stars.

The film was based on a woman who was sentenced to an Addictions Center by the Court. The most talented actor in the film, Steve Buscemi had a comparitively small roll. You tend to want to compare it to Michael Keaton's 'Clean and Sober', but in reality there is no comparison which is disappointing. All in all a very forgetable film. The Theatrical trailers had little to offer as far as insight. Just Actors and Directors patting each other on the back.

If you want to see a film that explores this type of content with a little more realism and understanding of a complex subject, purchase Clean & Sober.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good...
Review: Well my girlfriend twisted my arm for ever to watch this movie. I finally gave in and I was VERY mich suprised. It was a really nice decent movie, I recommend it. You just might earn some brownie points with your girlfriend.

Rating:
Summary: close, but no martini...
Review: All in all, this movie had some interesting insights into the world of acoholism, which I think were candid, honest and well-thought-through. It had all the markings of a great movie - solid cast, interesting premise... but it really didn't live up to its promise as a "great" movie.

Essentially, the movie fizzles at the end. It takes, the safe, predictable road. I don't think a recovering alcoholic really gets to wrap up conflicts with pretty little ribbns like that. And c'mon: An alcoholic who doesn't care about anybody and doesn't think she has a problem goes into rehab? You already know what's going to happen! And to use Steve Buscemi (I'm a huge fan!) in such an uninteresting way (re: a rather boring guidance counselor) is a travesty. Mr. Buscemi must have been returning a favor by doing this one.

In short, it's probably worth watching if you're a Sandra Bullock fan, but don't expect to be blown away.

Rating:
Summary: Decent DVD
Review: This is a so/so movie. It has a full episode on the soap opera you hear about in the show. It's ok, swell, wonderful, yeah great...

Rating:
Summary: Good star turn by Sandra Bullock
Review: I didn't want to see "28 Days" in which Sandra Bullock plays a writer with a pill and booze problem sentenced to rehab. Much of the film - in which Bullock is the only really recognizable face - seems to be what I expected, but I enjoyed it despite myself. Surviving what could have been a fatal DWI accident, Gwen is sentenced to Rehab in some upstate facility that seems pretty nice to anybody not in immediate need of chemical stimulation. Cigarettes are about the closest items of sin permitted, and even they're subject to war-time rations.

The directors keep the focus on Gwen, Sandra's charachter, but they compensate by restraining the urge to reduce her fellow patients into one-note charachters good only for comic relief. Some of the best charachters seem both funny and sad at the same time. Gwen's need for perpetual stimulation stem, not suprisingly, from her mother, a manic alcoholic in her own day. Flashback scenes in which a younger Gwen and Mom sled down snowy hills would seem hysterical, that is until the moment we see the oncoming cars.

Gwen's and her friends' addictions come in all different categories - though most seem to share shameless addictions to simple things like "Santa Cruz", a vile soap opera, fatalism and a brooding unwillingness to admit their problems. The challenge of the story is getting past the obvious addictions to the ones that really make these charachters weaker people but stronger charachters. For Gwen, the addiction is to anything that keeps the world from slowing down enough to reveal its bleakness. When Gwen's mother took a break from the party, she could be found napping on the kitchen floor, dreaming of a liver that worked. Robbed of her pills and her beer, Gwen handles the slowdown of withdrawl badly. Breaking her leg, Gwen wakes in the Clinic's infirmary, looking at her own reflection as if it were a stranger's - she looks ugly! If they could hand out Oscar's for the best split second of self-realization, Bullock would win for that moment alone.

Rating:
Summary: Scared Straight
Review: You won't want to go into rehab after you see this movie. The girl next door is a boozer and she breaks her sister's heart. She learns that her friends are her fatal flaw and her character is all that can save her. I've never been to rehab but I know the power of faith and the value of relationships with quality people. Weak people tend to become the kind of people they hang around with. This movie trys to say that change can only come from within if it is supported externally. It's too bad they don't get into the value of character.

Rating:
Summary: AN ACCURATE PORTRAYAL
Review: I don't know if anyone who hasn't been through rehab should be reviewing this movie. Anyone who has been through it knows that there is as much laughter as there is pain. And for those of you who object to the "stereotypical" characters, I can tell you that there is every kind of person imaginable in rehab. There were many painful and dramatic scenes here that balanced out the "zany" ones. I've been there, and although my facility wasn't quite as nice as this one, this movie was very real to me.