Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000

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"Break it up, folks; nuthin' to see here..." THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**) Gwen (Sandra Bullock) parties like it's 1999; a drink in one hand and pills in the other, Gwen and her boyfriend Jasper (Dominic West) go on a bender and trash the wedding of Gwen's long-suffering sister Lily (Elizabeth Perkins), topping off the day by crashing a "borrowed" limo. Sentenced to rehab for 28 days [clever title then, har har!], Gwen is made to Confront Her Inner Demons alongside other rehab residents, including her young, confused roommate Andrea (Azura Skye), resentfully-scarred Daniel (Reni Santoni), big lug Oliver (Mike O'Malley), Comic Relief/Sensitive Guy Gerhardt (Alan Tudyk), ObBlackResident Roshanda (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), addict and celebrity baseball player Eddie Boone (Viggo Mortensen), and even her ex-addict counselor Cornell (Steve Buscemi) - all learning to Live Life One Day At A Time. And oh yeah: Wackiness Ensues. THE UPSHOT One of these days, I'd like for someone to explain to me just what the difference between Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock is. Besides the $20mil per ploddingly dull picture that Roberts gets and Bullock doesn't, I just don't see it. But then again, I'm not the target demo for either of these chicks. Slot-A Roberts could've easily been plugged into this Hole-B flick without it missing a beat, and the only difference would be that 28 Days would've come away with a gazillion-dollar first day box office draw. And I bet I would've slept through her version, too. There was one - count 'em, one - scene in this entire movie that wound up surprising me, and that came at the very end; keeping it as spoiler-free as I can, I'll just say that it has to do with whom Gwen didn't Walk Off Into The Sunset with. Other than that, 28 Days was a pedestrian movie about characters I can't be arsed to care about, getting into situations that have been covered to hell and back by actors who actually made me want to see What Happens Next. No one here, not even Comic Relief/Sensitive Guy Gerhardt, was anywhere near original; other than being a pretty bad poster for the Just Say No types, 28 Days did nothing to earn its keep. Well, that's not quite true. Two other bits in this movie actually kept my attention during the short time they were given on-screen: the often-funny faux soap, "Santa Cruz", was more interesting than the movie that surrounded it ("Tiny clusters of brain tumors" will stay with me for awhile); and the very funny background P.A. announcements ("Tonight's lecture: Are you a blackout drunk, or don't you remember?") voiced by Betty (Margo Martindale), drew me out of my near-doze. Pity that these bits were lost within a flick unworthy of these moments of ingenuity. BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE A situation comedy without the laughs, disguised as a drama, that wound up a Tragedy. Made for a good sleeping pill, though. 28 DAYS:   back to top And that's the way I see it. Rose "Bams" Cooper 3BlackChicks Review™ Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com    ICQ: 7760005 http://www.3blackchicks.com/