Ever heard that too much of a good thing is bad for you? Well, the same goes for too much Sandra Bullock. Her latest release, 28 Days, is a lighthearted look at the life of addicts. Too much booze, too many pills, too much sex, and an overdose of sappy cinema.
Sandra Bullock has made her mark as one of Hollywood’s most lovable faces. She seems to take on roles that pick up where the last one left off. Her character here, Gwen, is nothing more than an extension of her character in Forces Of Nature. Talk about lack of range. Oh, except for the alcoholic part, which she did quite well and should consider stretching even further next time around.
Gwen is an out of control substance abuser who’s reached her limit when she ruins her sisters wedding and ends up with a DUI. Sentenced to twenty-eight days in a rehabilitation center, she begins her healing process and does some serious soul searching. She laughs, she pouts, she cries, she does virtually the same thing we’ve seen her do time and time again.
On her road to recovery, Gwen meets a group of neurotics who are all struggling with addiction as well. There’s Gerhardt (Alan Tudyk), the flamboyant homosexual; Oliver (Mike O’Malley), a compulsive alcoholic and sex addict; Andrea (Azura Skye), a seventeen-year-old heroine addict; Daniel (Reni Santoni), a molester and nicotine abuser; and Eddie (Viggo Mortensen), a washed-up baseball player with a cocaine and womanizing problem. Together, Gwen and her fellow rehabbers learn to face their problems head on, and through a series of healing rituals, like chanting, singing, and pinpointing specific emotions, they learn to overcome them too.
Much like an overrated self-help book, 28 Days comes dangerously close to being preachy. Luckily, the comedic efforts of Alan Tudyk keep it somewhat grounded. Is it a comedy or a drama? It’s questionable. And while it’s difficult to completely avoid seeing the characters as real people suffering from serious afflictions, it’s even harder to sympathize with them when they are able to laugh their way through a supposedly grueling rehabilitation stay. I just didn’t buy into it.
I can’t deny that I enjoyed 28 Days. I mean, I laughed just as much as the next guy, but it didn’t get to me. It’s just not one of those films you think about afterwards. If you’re on the Sandra Bullock bandwagon and can’t get enough of her playing the same character over and over, I guess 28 Days will do.
+ Ashley Adams
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