Sandra Bullock often comes across onscreen as a slightly more grown-up version of the girl who was everybody's friend in high school, the one who always had a smile and some words of wisdom handy whenever someone needed advice or comfort. That probably has a lot to do with why her fans show up faithfully, even when her movies are dicey propositions at best ("Forces of Nature," "Hope Floats," "Practical Magic").
Director Betty Thomas tries to get Bullock to turn on that old charm again in "28 Days," in which Bullock plays Gwen, a writer who spends more time mixing pills and cocktails than working on manuscripts. But Bullock's not interested in coasting along on her charisma this time out. Instead, she strains to come across as unbalanced, self-destructive and defensive; she seems determined to show how much research she's done on the subject, how much angst she can convey.
The screenplay by Susannah Grant ("Erin Brockovich") insists Gwen's alcoholism is presented in the sweetest, corniest fashion possible, however, thereby undercutting everything the actress is struggling to accomplish. The result is a 12-step misstep.
Because of the sizable number of romantic comedies she's made, Bullock has often been compared to Meg Ryan, but if "28 Days" was supposed to be her answer to Ryan's harrowing alcoholism saga "When a Man Loves a Woman," it falls short in every category. Ripe with good intentions and stuffed with bits and pieces ripped out of better films, "28 Days" is a skin-deep dramedy that skillfully skates around most of the nastier aspects of addiction. Anyone who's had a drinking problem or participated in an intervention session will be offended by the offhand way the movie trivializes the pain that substance abuse causes.
Gwen may have a tendency to misbehave when she drinks, but she's still managed to somehow retain both her fresh-faced complexion and a spacious, funky New York City loft. Even while going through a series of life-changing crises, Gwen finds time to do her hair and makeup flawlessly. She may be hitting bottom, folks, but the good news is she still looks sensational.
After ruining the wedding of her sister Lily (Elizabeth Perkins), Gwen lands in Serenity Glen, a rural rehab center where recovering addicts chant empowering slogans and sing "Lean On Me" and "Happy Trails To You" in between staging skits, attending silly lectures (one is called "Are You a Blackout Drunk, Or Don't You Remember?") and participating in the cutest group therapy sessions you've ever seen. This might be where the Care Bears go for help if they fall off the wagon.
With the exception of the requisite doomed roommate (Azura Skye), all of Gwen's fellow addicts are cuddly eccentrics, as warm and transparent as vodka. The movie trudges through all the usual cliches (Gwen's mom was a lush who drank herself to death, Gwen's counselor is a recovering cokehead who feels her pain, Gwen's boyfriend is an enabler who only loves her when she's plastered, etc.) without offering bothering to freshen them up.
"If you are young and drink a great deal, it will spoil your health, slow your mind, make you fat -- in other words, turn you into an adult," writer P.J. O'Rourke once said. In "28 Days," Bullock does everything she can to take Gwen to full maturity, but Thomas and Grant refuse to let her out of the playpen. James Sanford
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