By Jamie Annel

"28 Days
** out of four

Sandra Bullock does not play a convincing drunk. In fact, she’s not too convincing at drama, either. And that’s a shame, because somewhere in the plot of "28 Days" is the potential for a good movie.

Bullock plays Gwen, a writer who doesn’t actually do a lot of writing. Instead, she drinks a lot, pops pills, and stays out all night partying with her British boyfriend, Jasper (Dominic West). Gwen and Jasper don’t think they have a problem, even after waking up in the morning without any memory of the night before. They just consider themselves "fun."

However, the fun ends when Gwen shows up drunk at her sister’s wedding, makes a humiliating speech, ruins the cake and crashes a limo into a house. Her punishment is either jail time or 28 days of rehab, and needless to say, Gwen chooses the latter.

I’m sure director Betty Thomas had the best intentions when making this movie, but the main problem with "28 Days" is that it doesn’t bring any new insight to a very complex issue. The film sets up all its situations so far in advance we can see the conclusions coming a mile away. There’s no question that Gwen will eventually see the light and participate in her recovery, and there’s no question that she will eventually reconcile with her sister.

Bullock doesn’t play Gwen with any real sense of struggle. That’s why the best part of the movie is the supporting actors, especially Azura Skye as a teenage heroin addict and Steve Buscemi as a counselor. Buscemi, in particular, is a wonderful actor who perfectly captures the weariness of a man who has seen too many addicts like Gwen come and go. It’s just too bad he wasn’t the star of the movie.

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