28 Days

Rated [PG-13], minutes
Starring Sandra Bullock, Viggo Mortensen, Steve Buscemi, Dominic West, Diane Lane
Screenplay by Susannah Grant
Directed by Betty Thomas
website: www.soapcity.com/28days

Review by Paul Fischer. Cranky's review here. Sandra Bullock StarTalk here

Sandra Bullock plays Gwen, a newspaper columnist, who with her boyfriend pops pills and drinks there way into a stupor until the day of her sister's wedding. Gwen crashes into the wedding cake, and on her conquest to get another one crashes the wedding limo into a house. She's faced with two options, 28 days of rehab or jail. Suffice it to say, she opts for the former.

It's been a long time since we've seen a Sandra Bullock film that actually worked. She seemed to have been caught in a rut, playing simplistic characters in below-average vehicles (let's not even discuss the likes of Speed 2 and Gun Shy). So naturally, one goes into a new Bullock film with increased trepidation, and 28 days proved no exception. So imagine one's surprise when realising that the woman has depth after all, and that the film, is a wonderfully emotive and honest look at difficult material. Yes, Bullock is back, and proving that she can, given the right material, arrest our attention, as she does beautifully and intelligently.

28 Days is a film about alcoholism and addiction, hardly the stuff of commercial American cinema, but under the assured direction of Betty Thomas and screenwriter Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich), the film fines an astute balance between some deft character-based humour and the truthfulness of the movie's thematic elements. This is a film that does talk about the nature of addiction, the ability to be honest with yourself and those around you, and the importance of not facing a crisis solo. Apart from the luminous performance of Bullock, whose broad emotional range is clearly defined here? She's tough, raw, vulnerable and funny, as well as unashamedly honest. The actress receives strong support from a stellar supporting cast, including a surprisingly subdued and effective Steve Buscemi, as her counsellor. Smartly directed by Thomas, and well executed in all other tech departments, 28 Days is fresh and engaging while never straying from a sense of its honesty. This is one of those films that is surprising and entertaining, yet compelling and intelligent all the way.

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