Review: 28 Days (2000)
Steve Kong
Review by Steve Kong
The Hard Boiled Movie Guide
http://boiledmovies.sbay.com/
Let me save you an hour and a half: Alcohol and drugs are bad so don't do
them. That's it. That's what 28 Days is about. Now, if you still want to
watch the movie, read on.
28 Days is a movie with a message, it preaches it hard and it tries to make
a point. In the end, it does make a point, but was it really necessary to
take an hour and a half to tell it? When the movie started I didn't like
it at all. The first hour or so of the movie meanders around. The last
part of the film has some emotional parts and a little more story to grasp,
but still is not as good.
28 Days is basically, at heart, a film that wants to teach. Watching this
film is like sitting in a high school classroom during a "don't drink
alcohol" or "don't use drugs" lecture. There are some funny moments in the
film but I'm not quite sure the tone of the film was a comedy, or maybe it
was. That was another problem with the film, the tone was wholly inconsistent.
The actors in the film are good, given the big names that show up. Topping
the title is Sandra Bullock who again gives a good performance. Steve
Buscemi gives a straight performance this time around. When I first saw
him onscreen I was ready to laugh, but he gives a good serious performance
in 28 Days. The first time you see him onscreen though will make you
laugh. Viggo Mortensen, one of the underused actors in Hollywood, does
well with his drug addicted baseball pitcher, but his character is written
off too quickly and abruptly.
Director Betty Thomas (Private Parts, Doctor Dolittle) doesn't keep the
tone of the film consistent and also the timing of the film is a little
slow. Though, I'm not sure of those two things would have helped the
script by Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich, Ever After). Grant's other
scripts are wonderful, especially Ever After and even quite memorable, like
Erin Brockovich, but 28 Days is just a dud.
Save yourself an hour and a half and skip 28 Days, even as a rental.
---
Steve Kong rev...@boiledmovies.sbay.com
not all film critics are the same.
i'm your hard boiled movie guide.