Okay, here's the deal. I know a few folks who like to drink. To be completely honest, I've been known to partake of demon rum myself on occasion. Rum, Coors Longnecks, and, on one fateful weekend, something blue that looked like that stuff barbers soak combs in. Most of my experiences with "spirits" are simple, pleasant outings with no real trouble. When it does get ahold of me, and I mean bad ahold, well, let's just say that divorce lawyers are my usual companions to recovery.
These days, though, I've pretty much given up on the major binges. It takes far too long to trudge through a hangover, and even longer to pay for ex-wives. Nowadays, I may take a six-pack down to the lake with me as I search for an elusive catfish or two, but that's about it. Most everyone in Carver Point is about the same. We used to have a couple of "town drunks," but Marlon Kimball fell in love with the waitress at the diner, and she made him quit. The other guy, Jimmy Cauthorn, passed out one night and fell in the baptismal pool over at the First Baptist Church. It was a cold night, and the shock of the cold water, as well as raising up and seeing the huge steeple looming overhead, pushed him over the edge. He found Jesus in a big way, and is now singing second tenor in the choir.
I'm not making fun of alcohol abuse, mind you. I see too much of the damage alcoholism can bring on to poke a lot of fun at it. But, for that very reason, I found myself a bit uncomfortable with the previews of 28 days, the new film starring Sandra Bullock. The trailer made it look like a "funny rehab comedy," and that gnawed at me.
As it turns out though, 28 Days is funny sometimes, but it also carries a serious side that not a lot of people think about when rehabilitation is used to "cure" substance abuse.
Miss Sandra stars as Gwen Cummings, and Gwen's life is one of those that could be defined one of two ways. Gwen could be considered a "wild party girl". She could also be considered a "pitiful drunk." She and her boyfriend Jasper (Dominic West of A Midsummer Night's Dream) drink, and drink hard, and they combine that with assorted drugs. One night, they pass out without extinguishing a candle, and it starts a fire, which they douse with champagne. The next morning, after a breakfast beer, Gwen arrives late for the wedding of her sister, Lily, played by Elizabeth Perkins (The Flintstones, Big). Gwen then proceeds to offer an insulting toast, wrecks the wedding cake, steals a limo to go get another cake, and crashes said limo into a house. And who says weddings aren't fun...?
Gwen gets sentenced to 28 days in Serenity Glen, a rehab facility. There she meets a usual band of misfits who are all there for the same thing, namely, beating their addictions. There's Daniel, played by Reni Santoni (remember Poppy from "Seinfeld"), a doctor who managed to give himself an emergency tracheotomy while drunk. Gerhardt (Alan Tudyk) is a prissy dancer with a coke habit. Gwen's roommate is a teenager named Andrea (Azura Skye) who has already developed adult problems at an early age. And, then, there's Eddie Boone, played by Viggo Mortensen (A Perfect Murder), a pro ball pitcher with a substance abuse problem who becomes a semi-love interest for Gwen, and I'll say more on that later.
Let me start right now by saying this -- I really enjoyed this movie. And not because Sandra Bullock was onscreen almost the whole time. I liked what this movie did, how it said what it said, and how Betty Thomas, the director, folded in some nice comic moments within a serious setting. She borrows the P.A. announcement-running gag thing from M*A*S*H, but, that's okay; it's a great way to slide a tension-breaker in now and then. There's the usual blend of stories by the patients that are on the surface funny, but underneath much deeper, almost tragic. And, yes, the "Cuckoo's Nest Syndrome" kicks in more than a few times, where you band a motley crew together, and something funny is bound to happen. But Thomas never lets the humor take away from the reality of the situation. These people, from all walks of life, young and old, have lost control of their lives due to an outside addiction, and they are trying to put the pieces back together as best they can.
I also applaud Thomas's use of Steve Buscemi as Cornell, Gwen's counselor. I love Buscemi (Fargo, Con Air), and I look forward to seeing him in movies 'cause with him comes an added oddball that can be counted on for more than a few laughs. Here, though, he almost goes into total role reversal, and wonder of wonders, it works like a charm. He plays it straight, and his stereotypical cynicism makes his character tougher and easier to believe than other "screen counselors." His Cornell becomes a man who's heard it all, seen it all, and is bored with excuses. All he wants is success and commitment, not slick talk and inaction.
I also want to extend a nice hand to Susannah Grant, the writer of 28 Days. Susannah also wrote Erin Brockovich, so we know she can build a single-point story well. Here, though, she balances the characters so that the rehab is the central idea, not just the setting. And, to my great surprise, she brings up a point that I've only seen in one other "addiction" film. When Gwen and Eddie begin their quiet courtship, it's not a subplot strictly because some Suit somewhere said, "Sandra needs a love interest." The way their relationship builds immediately recalls Michael Keaton and Kathy Baker in one of Keaton's best films, Clean and Sober. Rehabilitation can drain people of more than just their addictions; it can leave them emotionally weak as well. In this weakness, patients reach out, desperate to hold on to something or someone. Like Keaton and Baker in C&S, Gwen and Eddie's relationship is built on the desperate need for someone else's strength. It's initially predictable, sure, but, below the surface, it is more telling than it seems.
Yes, people, this film is a good watch. It's not as emotionally charged as Girl, Interrupted, but the comparison is unfair because the subject is different, despite what some are saying. And, rather than turning this into a showcase for Miss Sandra, it lets her be one of several whose stories blend. She may be the hot name, but she's not going solo here. Give 28 Days a chance, and you might find out things you didn't know about rehab and, possibly, about yourself.
Image copyright Columbia Pictures.
|
in for observation