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Review by Susan Granger
3 stars out of 4
The girl-next-door has grown up. Sandra Bullock takes a brave
dramatic leap as a drunk stumbling on her way to sobriety in this
contemporary cautionary tale. Written by Susannah Grant ("Erin
Brockovich"), the story begins with Sandra reeling around Mahattan in
a boozy haze. She's a drinking, drugging party girl and the debauchery
never stops, even at the wedding of her sister (Elizabeth Perkins).
But when she swipes a limo and crashes it into the front porch of a
house, she gets a DUI and 28 days in court-ordered rehab. And that's a
real awakening. Defensive and heavily into denial, she first has to be
convinced that she is, indeed, an addict. Then she has to want to live
a different life, even if that means ditching her good-time boy-friend
(Dominic West) who'd like to marry her. But the core of the story
takes place in the rehab community, where she meets a motley
assortment of characters including her counselor (Steve Buscemi),
heroin-addicted roommate (Azura Skye), an irresistible gay German
(Alan Tudyk) - who has the best dialogue in the picture - and a
testosterone-laden baseball player (Viggo Mortensen). Yet the vision
of director Betty Thomas seems unfocused, skipping from slapstick
comedy to fuzzy memory flashbacks, from a silly riff on soap operas to
a romance that never develops, all within the serious substance-abuse
concept. Think of capturing the gallows humor of "Girl, Interrupted."
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "28 Days" is a scrambled 7. But
Sandra Bullock shines. She's a revelation, delivering a compelling,
surprisingly convincing performance after her recent falters in "Hope
Floats" and "Forces of Nature." Even when she's bruised and battered,
she's beautiful, bringing a haunting sadness to her portrayal.
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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