Gwen Cummings (Sandra Bullock) was always the life of the party. She and her boyfriend, Jasper (Dominic West), lead lives which consist of drinking hard, sleeping in late, and forgetting about the previous evening's activities. However, when she ruins her sister's (Elizabeth Perkins) wedding and smashes a limo into some poor soul's house, she is sentenced to twenty eight days of rehab. While in rehab she meets a host of unusual fellow addicts like Eddie (Viggo Mortensen), a major league ball player who is addicted to cocaine and sex; and Gerhardt (Alan Tudyk), a gay, German stripper who is addicted to god only knows what. She also meets her therapist, Cornell (an oddly sane Steve Buscemi), who is a recovered compulsive gambler and drug addict. While she is convinced she has no problem at first, it slowly dawns on Gwen that she may have a strong addiction afterall.

There were a couple of things about "28 Days" that I liked. First of all, I thought Sandra Bullock did a great job in her first leading role in some time. After a series of flops ("Forces of Nature", "Hope Floats") she needed to show that she could carry a movie on her shoulders alone (though I may have enjoyed it, I must admit that "Gun Shy" was not the movie needed to revive her career). Second, the humor may fall flat most of the time, but there is an occasional truly hilarious scene. Now, besides the fact that the movie clearly wasn't directed at a person like me, there are a few other things working against "28 Days". First, the soundtrack does nothing for the film. Filled with high spirited songs, everything played throughout the movie felt totally out of place. Second, flashbacks are shot in a confused, disjointed home video style which doesn't add anything. Third, I've seen few movies that have underdeveloped their characters to such an extent. For example, Steve Buscemi plays what could have been a very interesting character, but he is given almost no screen time.

As for the cast, the supporting actors would probably have done just fine if given more to work with. Steve Buscemi shows that he can play a normal character as opposed to the psychopaths he plays in "Reservoir Dogs" and "Fargo". Viggo Mortensen ("Crimson Tide", "G.I. Jane") nicely underplays his part as Gwen's potential love interest, but again, he is given very little screen time. The funniest supporting actor is certainly Alan Tudyk ("Patch Adams"), who shamelessly overacts, but in such a hilarious way that it is easy to forgive. As good as these actors may be, they can do nothing with these roles because we are given no information about the characters except that they have all been addicted to something at some point in their lives.

As far as direction goes, Betty Thomas ("Doctor Doolittle", "Private Parts") keeps the film strangely frantic in pacing. For example, Gwen ends up in rehab about eight minutes into the movie, before we get to know anything about her. You can also add "28 Days" to that ever growing list of movies that don't exactly end, but just sort of stop in mid scene. I suppose the only people I can recommend this movie to are recovered or recovering alcoholics and former drug addicts. I can't quite recommend it to fans of Sandra Bullock since she has certainly had better material to work with in the past. Go rent "Speed" or "Demolition Man" (yes, I like "Demolition Man") unless you're dying for a chick flick. "28 Days" runs only 103 minutes, but it feels quite a bit longer. I give it three out of five stars.

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* * * * * - One of the greatest movies ever made, see it now. * * * * - Great flick, try and catch this one. * * * - Okay movie, hits and misses. * * - Pretty bad, see it only if you have nothing better to do. * - One of the worst movies ever made. See it only if you enjoy pain.