Because 28 Days is a film that I really, really love, I was somewhat surprised to see what mixed reviews it had got on Epinions. Among the cons I’ve seen listed quite frequently are a slow pace, not fitting into a definable genre (comedy or serious), and weak plot. I really can’t say that I found any of these to be true from my perspective, which is a little odd because they are often the sort of things that I complain about in other movies! I guess I can see where the other reviewers were coming from with these comments, but I guess the whole movie just came together for me in a much better way than for them.

28 Days stars Sandra Bullock (Two Weeks Notice, The Net) as Gwen Cummings, whose life at the start of the film is one huge party. She goes from one drunken night to another with her partner Jasper (Dominic West), and pops a few pills just for good measure. Things come to a head when her behaviour completely wrecks her sister Lily (Elizabeth Perkins)’s wedding day, and as a result she is sent for 28 days rehab.

The rest of the film charts her rehabilitation and how her Counsellor, Cornell Shaw (Steve Buscemi - The Island) and the other rehab patients affect her life – and how she affects theirs. She starts off very much with a belligerent attitude of “I haven’t got a problem, I don’t need help” but slowly comes to appreciate just how much she really does need help. This is definitely one of Sandra Bullock’s best performances, she handle’s both the emotional scenes and the comedic scenes equally well.

There, I think, is the main problem that encompasses all three of the main criticisms mentioned above – pace, balance, and plot. I may well be wrong (I’ve gotta face it, I usually am…), but I wonder if most people watched this film with a preformed idea of what it will be like. I’ve done it with other films and it always does affect my viewpoint of the film when I watch it. You see, if you were expecting a straight comedy, you would probably find this far too slow in that the time between laughs can be pretty long. Alternately, if you want a serious study of the issues raised in this film, you’d probably be annoyed with the frivolities in some sections. Personally I had no preconceptions about this movie, and I found that it handles the balance between comedy and emotion brilliantly (I even listed it in my Top Ten Comedies!). However it’s not an out-and-out comedy, and many of the scenes are quite disturbing. If you have family members who suffer from mental health problems, especially depression and suicidal tendencies (in addition to substance abuse of course), you may find it particularly difficult to watch some scenes. Then again I’m not exactly untouched by some of these issues in my own family and it didn’t unduly worry me. Then again I’ve also worked in mental health so maybe that makes a difference. If you think you’d be uncomfortable watching such things, then this probably isn’t for you.

However… after that lengthy diatribe, I have to say that this is one of my all-time favourite films and certainly my favourite Bullock film. There are plenty of other memorable performances in this film besides her – Alan Tudyk (Serenity) was hilarious every time he was onscreen; Viggo Mortenson (Lord of the Rings: Return of the King) gave a measured performance as a baseball player suffering with an addiction (I’m not telling you which one!); Azura Skye was hauntingly believable as a self-harming young girl. Perkins and West as Gwen’s sister & partner gave strong performances too, and of course Steve Buscemi is brilliant as her Counsellor. If there is one thing wrong with the film then it’s that he’s not in it a bit more, but one sign of a great actor is that he can appear for a couple of minutes and at the end of the film, it’s his performance you’ll remember. As he showed here and in “The Wedding Singer” (where he had even less screen time but was even more unforgettable), Buscemi has achieved this greatness.

To me at least, the humour and drama work equally well and the balance is nearly perfect. The music score by Richard Gibbs certainly doesn’t disappoint either. As mentioned earlier, if you’re looking for a straight comedy or drama, you probably won’t enjoy this much. If like me you loved the TV series MASH, and particularly the way it could turn from laughter to tears in the blink of an eye, mesmerising you with its powerful emotion and unforgettable characters, then I think you may just end up loving this film as much as I do.

Other Information

Directed by: Betty Thomas
Year of Release: 2000
Runtime: 103 miuntes
Rating: 15(UK), PG-13(USA) for mature thematic elements involving substance abuse, language and some sensuality.

Trivia

Sandra Bullock would drink a triple espresso before any scene that required her character to have uncontrollable shakes.

DVD Extras

There’s the normal bunch of extras on the DVD package – “making of” featurette, deleted scenes, trailer, filmographies – and they’re all pretty good if you like that sort of thing. The isolated score is also available, and a slightly odd feature called “How to Build a Gum Wrapper Chain” – this is something Gwen does in the movie. However there is one final extra that is far more interesting…

In the movie, one of the characters (and later all of them!) is addicted to a soap opera called “Santa Cruz”. This spoofs all soap operas ever made in terms of ridiculous storylines, terrible acting, and atrocious dialogue (and, apparently, pretty much every character being secretly related to or sleeping with – or both – the other cast members). We see only tiny snippets of this in the film, but the DVD has a fairly lengthy set of clips from this imaginary series (apparently closely styled on “Santa Barbara”?) – and it’s hilarious. One of the best DVD extras ever to be… um… extra’d.

Price

Amazon.co.uk - £3.97
Play.com - £5.99
Amazon.com – $9.95



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD