28 DAYS

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28 DAYS Review

Maybe you are thinking what I was thinking when I first heard about this movie. "Oh great, they are making a cute movie out of a horrible problem called addiction, and are going to sum up rehab in a darling, romanticized way." I refused to watch it for a long time because of this presumption. Relax, and give the film a try. Although cute in places and using some subtle but great humor, '28 Days' does not romanticize the problem of addiction.

What it does manage to show, much to my amazement, is how trite and cheesy 'Recovery' can seem to the addict. The scenes of chanting, serenity prayers, and singing 'Lean On Me' are not portrayed as inspiring or moving, but as irritating customs of the Center. Perhaps portions of the movie go to the far edges of each condition, drunkenness and sobriety, but it does not come across as contrived. People really do these things, and some people really recover from it, and '28 Days' follows Gwen Cummings story, who is an exceptionally "gravitational" personality, easily allowing for a larger than life story.

Gwen (Sandra Bullock) is a writer, and along with party-time boyfriend Jasper (Dominic West) show up late and manage to ruin her sister Lily's (Elizabeth Perkins) wedding. After being late, Gwen ruins the mother-in-law's dress, takes a spin on the dance floor and winds out crushing the wedding cake, then steals a limo to drive to a cake store and replace it. Careening down the road, Gwen wrecks the limo into the side of a house. Sentenced to twenty-eight days in rehab or prison, Gwen finds herself at the Serenity Glen Rehabilitation Center.

Gwen's lifestyle as a New York writer/columnist is not conductive to sobriety, but even Gwen never realized the extent of her reliance on booze and prescription drugs. Not until she breaks the rules of Serenity Glen and her counselor Cornell (played by the amazing Steve Buscemi) arranges to have her sentence continued in prison. Only when Gwen practically leaps from a third story window in an attempt to retrieve the pills from Jasper that she earlier threw away does Gwen realize something is wrong with her. She decides its time to do something for herself, and convinces Cornell to let her stay at Serenity Glen.

Gwen must face many aspects of herself that she finds intolerable while sober, while also facing visits from Jasper who doesn't see the point of leaving their old life behind for sobriety. What follows is a touching, and yes, comical romp through Gwen's rehab, but it fits well because Gwen has a tendency to use humor to deflect emotional response.

The characters in this movie are outstanding. Sandra Bullock plays Gwen to perfection. Steve Buscemi is amazing as always, Dominic West as fun-boy Jasper is perfect, and look for a ridiculously intriguing performance by Alan Tudyk as Gerhardt, the funniest character in the movie. Gerhardt is an eccentric, over-the-top, emotional, stammering geek, and steals the movie with only a few lines. ("Oh my God, look at my package!" and "I want my foreskin back, no one asked when they took it, they just took it.") Also, at the very end of the movie, check out Gerhardt's T-shirt that he's wearing. Hysterical!!

Even through the horrid cheesiness of ridiculous rehab ritual, Gwen manages to make friends. Aside from Gerhardt, there is Daniel (Reni Santoni) the doctor who used to pump his own stomach, Andrea (Azura Skye), Gwen's roommate, a seventeen year old heroin addict who is far wiser than her years, Betty (Margo Martindale) as the crotchety but not humorless receptionist, and Eddie Boone (Viggo Mortenson) a professional baseball player addicted to booze and sex.

I was surprised at how well this movie actually turned out, comparing in my opinion to the classics 'Days Of Wine And Roses' and 'Lost Weekend'. Pay special attention to Cornell's speech for the group, where he talks about using whether something happened or nothing happened. While there is good humor in this movie, and it realistically portrays the cheesiness of all those rehab clich�s, it still winds out to be a good (though somewhat tragic) story about a good person. Gwen is obviously a loveable personality, both drunk and sober, which makes her choice more realistic than someone who makes a "dramatic change". There is a very funny scene where Gwen uses her talents as a writer to create an impromptu play based on Andrea's favorite soap opera, Santa Cruz. The clips of this soap opera are so over the top that you will laugh your hinder off at them.

Great acting, fantastic characterizations, good photography, a healthy dose of realism, a great script, and insightfully surreal flashbacks made this movie much better than it should have been. Oh, and it made me thirsty (he he he). Definitely a 'buy', but I always recommend rent first. Enjoy!

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