Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

silveraaadamsen 28 days is an average AA propaganda film, which is to say that it is highly misleading. The acting and directing is adequate but is hampered by the lack of realism in the plot. Viggo Mortensen and Dominic West, the two headlining male leads and competing romantic interests for Sandra Bullock's Gwen, come the closest to overcoming the restrictions of the plot.For example, the film turns on the idea that virtually everyone who has ever had a substance abuse problem would benefit from AA and 12 Step, even if attendance is court ordered. To further this propaganda goal, the plot has Gwen end up being court-ordered into a 12 Step rehab. The reality is that someone is more likely to be harmed than helped by 12 Step, particularly if they are coerced into participating in 12 Step.In keeping with the Pro AA propaganda, initially the character of Gwen resists participation in AA and 12 Step. Then after falling out a window and breaking her leg, while trying to obtain drugs in the rehab facility, she decides that she will try AA and 12 Step's ideology of powerlessness and total abstinence from all drugs in the future. This change in attitude is depicted as healing improvement. However, for the idea of "powerlessness" to be healing, it has to be misinterpreted. For many, if they actually think that they have no power to consume or not consume their drug of choice, they will OD and die, which, unfortunately is more likely for opiate addicts to do when participating in AA and 12 Step than if they just continued to use on their own.The film also distorts actual AA and 12 Step philosophy, but generally speaking for AA philosophy to be palatable for the public, it needs to be at least slightly distorted. For example, actual AA philosophy doesn't really encourage any kind of the healing work with animals and trust exercises that the rehab of the film depicts. AA and 12 Step focus more on eliminating "resentment," and taking a kind of responsibility for one's feelings that in some contexts is actually blaming the victim. Members are encouraged to see themselves as liars, users and abusers, and if they resist this labeling to be told that they aren't spiritual. Thus, the emotional support that those with more time in 12 Step have for newer members is very unrealistic.The film also tries to tackle the contentious topic of sex for those early in sobriety, yet it slants it here too. The most abusive and yet common sexual relationships are between men with multiple years in 12 Step Program and attractive women who are very new to AA and 12 Step. In this sense Cornell, played by Steve Buscemi, is more a fantasy of the AA counselor than the reality. In practical application, the counselor would more than likely be trying to seduce those he was supposedly trying to help, at the same time that he was lecturing them on their "resentment" issues and telling them that he "was not responsible" for their feelings if at some point in time they felt betrayed by his seduction.This said, the camaraderie between those struggling to control their substance abuse that the film depicts is real, but much of that evaporates in standard AA and 12 Step meetings. Typical AA and 12 Step is run by old timers with narcissist disorders who seem to enjoy being emotionally abusive to newer members and then claiming that this is a kind of "spirituality" to be abusive or that it is "progress and not perfection" in terms of their own flaws and abuses but that newcomers must be entirely obedient to the Big Book and their sponsors if they want to stay sober and avoid the "jail, institutions, or death" that awaits those that decide not to participate in AA.Of course, in keeping with standard AA propaganda, the film never mentions that AA only has a 5% success rate, and that 12 Step has an even lower success rate with opiates, and that there are 10 major alternatives to AA and 12 Step.So my main problem with this film is the same argument that applies to any AA propaganda film. It pretends to have a life-saving message of hope, but is instead rife with misinformation, that will cause the death and suffering that it supposedly is working to avoid. 10 Major Alternatives to AA (circa 2017) Free Self-Help online reference: HAMS network; SMART Recovery; SOS sobriety; Women for Sobriety (includes Men for Sobriety) Life ring; Moderation; Reddit (entirely online)   Help involving paid professionals online reference : Rational Recovery; Sinclair Method (for alcohol, uses the medication Naltrexone); Ibogaine Alliance (for opiates);   Sinclair method and Ibogaine use medication to rewire the addiction pathways in the brain *most doctors can prescribe the medication Naltrexone, but Goodman center.com is a treatment center specifically based on the Sinclair method. **aftercare is recommended, such as genesisiboganiecenter.com, holistichousevegas.com, and medicineheartrecovery.com

bbewnylorac Sure, 28 Days at times is a Hollywood version of what rehab might be, but it does strive to have something to say. The acting is great and the directing is tight. The film totally parodies the rehab clichés - the slogans, the camp environment, the wholesome songs, but the central character, sports columnist Gwen, also genuinely goes on a journey from adolescent-brained party girl to the more mature, intelligent woman inside. She's never stopped to reflect on her life and the consequences of her actions until now. The death of her teenage roommate from suicide is a compelling reminder that not everyone magically transforms their lives at rehab. The support cast including Elizabeth Perkins as Gwen's sister and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a fellow addict, are great. As a counsellor and alcoholic, Steve Buscemi has a nicely sardonic way about him. He tends to spout sayings, but he's interesting. And as the troubled sports star attracted to Gwen, Viggo Mortenson has great chemistry with Bullock, and is self mocking and rueful. As Gwen's self centered partying boyfriend, Dominic West is fantastic -- his character manages to be light as a cloud while simultaneously representing the evil temptations of drink and debauchery that Gwen must avoid. Special mention goes to the troubadour Loudon Wainwright III who plays guitar and sings in several scenes, as a kind of one man Greek chorus. It gives the film an offbeat, wacky charm. Sandra Bullock is maybe too likable -- even when Gwen is doing despicable things (not that there are many of those) we forgive her. Maybe in real life such a character would really stir our hatred, like the gambling addict who steals money from her child's school. If Gwen had hit a person in the car she stole, it would have been a different film.

nilbog777 This movie seems to have been made in a vacuum by people who have zero experience with the subject matter they are half-heartedly attempting to tackle. It seems if you were going to make a movie on the subject of rehab, alcoholism and addiction, you would at least consult with someone who had some experience with it. It is evident by scenes like her arrival at rehab and first lunch that the director and actors are working off of third hand knowledge of what it is really like. People that are experiencing a 30 day rehab do not look good, clean-cut and made up. It is a shame that a film like this saw the light of day. Movies such as this further perpetuate false stereotypes about addiction and recovery. It is a gut wrenching and emotional experience to go through and this film takes the gritty subject and transforms it into Shakespeare in love style rom com trash. It was a terrible movie.

Neil Welch Sandra Bullock is an habitual drunk in a relationship with someone similar - the pair of them are happy, but their behaviour (and lives are a mess). So, after ruining her sister's wedding, she is sent o 28 days' rehab. After initial resistance, she comes to realise that this may hold the key to improving her life.As a straight drama of someone undergoing rehab, this isn't bad at all, with a decent central performance from Bullock - detailed, nuanced, accomplished.Where it is less successful is as a comedy. There are some smiles, it is true, but the subject matter is not comedic and Bullock certainly doesn't play it for laughs. And that, I think, is how it should be, because the dramatic side works quite well.