28 Days (2000)



Gwen Cummings (Sandra Bullock), a successful N.Y. journalist and ultimate party girl, loves to have a good time! Trouble is, she never can tell when she's had enough.

28daysGwen is an alcoholic in denial whose latest bender with boozer boyfriend Jasper (Dominic West) ruins the wedding of her sister (Elizabeth Perkins) and lands her in a month-long rehab program with the requisite gang of struggling drunks and junkies. Steve Buscemi aptly conveys the weary commitment of a counselor who's seen it all. Certainly no surprises here--the warring sisters will reconcile, and at least one rehabber will fail to recover--but there's ample pleasure to be found in Bullock's finely tuned performance.

Gwen Cummings (Sandra Bullock), a successful N.Y. journalist and ultimate party girl, loves to have a good time! Trouble is, she never can tell when she's had enough. When she borrows her sister's (Elizabeth Perkins) wedding limo and plows it into someone's front porch, the wild life she shares with her boyfriend, Jasper (Dominic West), comes to a screeching halt. She earns herself a DUI and a 28-day stretch in rehab. There, she faces an unthinkable set of rules (no cell phones!) and some strange rituals, like chanting and (gulp!) sharing her feelings. Joining up with an eccentric group of fellow rehabbers led by the inimitable Counselor Cornell (Steve Buscemi), Gwen embarks on a touching and often hilarious road to recovery where she learns that life is not always a party and that real happiness comes from within.

Our Take: Is the movie great? No! Is it worth seeing? Sure, why not? The scenes with Gwen driving the car drunk gave me flashbacks. The worst part was how she appeared to be held to a lower standard than anyone else. This would never happen in CR, right? Sorry ladies, no Keanu Reeves in this one. Whoa!

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