28 Days

REVIEW
Against type, Bullock plays a fast-living substance abuser who is court ordered to spend 28 days in rehab (after almost single-handedly ruining her sister's wedding). There she befriends a group of misfits and learns a little about herself. There's not much new in the addict-on-the-mends story line, and the small group that Bullock's Grace Cummings finds herself reluctantly becoming a part is straight from Central Casting. But if you can get beyond the misplaced sentimentality and tawdry laughs (screenwriter Susannah Grant wants to make fun of these people while trying to expose their humanity -- it doesn't work), there's an involving story of tying to get one's self on the right road at the heart of director Thomas' wayward film. Bullock is an engaging presence even as she careens out of control, but she can't quite compensate for the script's occasional lapses in judgment.