28 Days pulls off sensitive topic

"Hello, my name is Gwen Cummings, and I'm an alcoholic," says Sandra Bullock in the new film from Columbia Pictures, 28 Days .

Cummings is the life of every party - until she goes over the edge at her sister's wedding and ends up with a DUI charge and 28 days in a court-ordered rehab. Rehab is obviously not a normal place. There are emotional "feeling" sessions, and rules such as "no cell phones." Bullock's character is simply looking for a way to get through this hell, until Counselor Cornell (Steve Buscemi) helps her take a good look at her life.

Bullock takes her first real shot at acting, and pulls it off in grand fashion. Up until 28 Days , Bullock has portrayed basically the same character - that mushy love-stricken girl looking for romance - but in this film she really gets a chance to do something different.

"I've never worked so hard," Bullock said in a press release. "It's the most thorough I've had the chance to be."

Director Betty Thomas also takes a new direction with the film. With such prior film credits as Dr. Dolittle and Private Parts, her field was limited to comedic films with very little serious meaning.

"I felt this was a difficult subject, to use comedy and satire to reveal a personally serious experience," Thomas said.

Along with Bullock's zany character, 28 Days hosts an excellent cast. The most outstanding of the cast, Gerhardt (Alan Tudyk), a German stripper who has a cocaine problem, will strike the audience is a positive manner. Gerhardt is very emotional and goofy - and the biggest comic relief in the film.

Interaction between the characters is very important in 28 Days because each person learns from others - the actors accomplish it extremely well. Audiences will laugh with them, cry with them, but overall, relate to them.

28 Days is a film for anyone who has ever taken a ride on the wild side of life and actually made it out the other end - a film that most people can relate to in one way or another.