28 Days (Special Edition) dvd movie.|
28 Days (Special Edition) buy bestselling dvd movies, videos find reviews, ratings, prices |
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List Price: $9.95 Our Price: $8.49 You Save: $1.46 Features • Anamorphic • Closed-captioned • Color • Dolby • DVD-Video • Special Edition • Widescreen • NTSC In Theaters : 14 April, 2000 DVD Release : 19 September, 2000 |
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28 Days (Special Edition) description To appreciate 28 Days, it's best to be thankful that director Betty Thomas hasn't forced Sandra Bullock into a remake of Clean and Sober. Instead Thomas has balanced her comedic sensibility (evident in Dr. Dolittle and Private Parts) with the seriousness of alcoholism and substance abuse, and she succeeds without compromising the gravity of the subject matter. Some critics have scoffed at the movie's breezy, formulaic portrait of 27-year-old boozer and pill-popper Gwen Cummings (Bullock), but this smooth-running star vehicle does for Bullock what Erin Brockovich did for Julia Roberts, focusing her appeal in a substantial role without taxing the limits of her talent. It's no wonder that Susannah Grant (who wrote both films) was one of the hottest new screenwriters of 1999. She writes "Hollywood Lite" without insulting anyone's intelligence. As played by Bullock, Gwen is an alcoholic in denial whose latest bender with boozer boyfriend Jasper (Dominic West) ruins the wedding of her sister (Elizabeth Perkins) and lands her in a month-long rehab program with the requisite gang of struggling drunks and junkies. Newcomer Alan Tudyk steals his scenes as a gay German rehabber who might've dropped in from a Berlin performance-art exhibit, and Steve Buscemi aptly conveys the weary commitment of a counselor who's seen it all. Thomas has surrounded Bullock with a sharp ensemble, and the addition of singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III (as a kind of Greek chorus crooner) is sublimely inspired. Certainly no surprises here--the warring sisters will reconcile, and at least one rehabber will fail to recover--but there's ample pleasure to be found in Bullock's finely tuned performance, and in Thomas's inclusion of flashbacks and tangents that add depth and laughter in just the right dosage. --Jeff Shannon |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | A "coming of age" story of people who are learning to grow up at an older age |
| Moving story about not only a woman who gets thrown into rehab, but also who has repressed her feelings, her life and finds herself maturing into an adult after drinking her younger life away. When she first gets into rehab, it's not only a typical scene that one might see in a rehab facility, but also one where, since the stunting of her emotional, responsible and relationship senses are that of a young, out of control child who raised herself. Through the movie, she learns how to be alive, how to be sensitive, that the man she thought was so great for her isn't at all and why, and she gets the beginnings of how to grow, get in touch with not only her feelings, but learns what is not good for her and to walk away. She learns to ask for help from those who are healthy and to walk from those who are not, slowly, and through a process that we can only wish some people would get, yet without the tragedy (although that's how some people must learn it, as for some they simply don't see it until they really hurt someone (or even kills them in some people's lives.)
This isn't only a good story for alcoholics or drug addicts, but also one for those who haven't grown up as adults for whatever reason. To learn that people make mistakes, to learn that human touch and feelings are really what life is about, not the girl or guy with the nice suit or those who are trying to make an appearance of having money, "friends", or the potential of the mansion on the hill, the so-called "Glamorous life." She grows to see through all the BS and get real with herself, get in touch with her feelings, realize that being able to be vulnerable is the best gift she can not only give to herself, but also to those around her, and she learns not only how to be a friend to others, but how to recognize who her friends really are. Great flick they outta show and discuss in high schools and colleges (although there are some parts that are graphic - drug use, etc., but then if we are real about it, most kids are seeing this stuff to one degree or another anyhow!) The lessons in this movie come SO late in life for some people, and for some not at all, living lives that are akward, fake, idealized, but then these people never really are happy on the inside, nor do they know how to really connect with other people. An awesome gift for someone who needs to grow before they can really feel what it is to have a family relationship, a true friend, a real life and be happy with who they really are (weather they hide in anxiety, drugs, alcohol, self-indulgence, or whatever it is that keeps them from being who they really are and not trying to put on a mask to feel OK or better than others. To simply be happy with who they are - monetarily rich or poor, healthy or sick, no matter what it is that they are trying to escape by the egotistical "look at me, look at my [whatever], look at what I have" syndrome that keeps SO many people from true happiness, and is sad to watch, as these people don't really feel, are not in touch with their feelings, and miss out on what life is really about and unfortunately often times self-medicate with alcohol, drugs, sex, gossip, talking to others as though they don't know anything (the "know it all" syndrome) whatever to make themselves feel good about themselves, and that often has other people who are centered in their lives dropping them by the wayside, as they don't care for the drama. |
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