Movie review of 28 DAYS

(Reviewer gives it a C+)<br>Starring Sandra Bullock, Viggo Mortensen, Dominic West, Elizabeth Perkins, Diane Ladd and Steve Buscemi. Directed by Betty Thomas.<br><br>Rated PG-13 (language, mild violence

Monday, April 17th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Reviewer gives it a C+)
Starring Sandra Bullock, Viggo Mortensen, Dominic West, Elizabeth Perkins, Diane Ladd and Steve Buscemi. Directed by Betty Thomas.

Rated PG-13 (language, mild violence and suggested sexuality). In wide release. 103 min.

Sandra Bullock gives her best performance yet in "28 Days," a movie that ultimately proves unworthy of anyone's best performance.

Ms. Bullock captures the nuances of a complicated character, maintaining a consistency that the movie unfortunately never echoes. Betty Thomas' direction is both actor-friendly and audience-friendly, but traffics too heavily in cheap laughs. Susannah Grant's screenplay has the witty repartee you'd expect from the author of "Erin Brockovich," but lacks any sense of unity.

Gwen Cummings (Ms. Bullock) is a professional writer with unexorcised demons. On a particularly lost weekend, she shows up drunk at her sister's wedding and runs off in the wedding party's limousine, causing life-threatening damage to public property. The judge sentences her to 28 days at a rehab center.

At first, the movie threatens to become a "Private Benjamin Goes to Rehab"-type comedy, as self-absorbed Gwen learns that she's not the only person in the universe with problems. She even enters into a romance with Eddie (Viggo Mortensen), an athlete with a drinking problem. Rehab, presumably, teaches you to look beneath the surface, but their relationship plays like a case of the cutest girl in rehab falling for the cutest boy. Gwen and Eddie are bound only by virtue of well-chiseled features. A climactic confrontation between Eddie, Gwen and her old, heavy-drinking boyfriend Jasper (Dominic West) is nothing more than a melodramatic contrivance.

Even more irritating is the film's habit of squeezing laughs from the actions of people with serious problems. The movie tries to extract humor from sadly challenged people, resulting in less-than-charitable guffaws from the audience. The movie's attitude toward the rehab center's practices is similarly hypocritical. Group chanting and support circles often are played for jeers â€“ at least until the final moments, when we're supposedly expected to cheer.

Still, director Thomas gets solid performances from a strong cast that includes such first-rate character actors as Diane Ladd, Elizabeth Perkins and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, of "Secrets & Lies." Margo Martindale continues to be an unacknowledged national treasure, playing Betty, the crusty receptionist who greets new rehabbers with "Carry your own bags, this isn't the Sheraton."

Steve Buscemi, usually cast as an affable wacko, is convincingly subdued as a counselor with a history of problems. He's sympathetic, noncombative but, when pushed, capable of a no-nonsense attitude. Another asset is the film's warm, earthy cinematography, lensed by Declan Quinn, brother of actor Aidan.

The movie ultimately belongs to Ms. Bullock, who succeeds admirably. Even when the camera lingers on her beguiling smile, she never tries to get by on mere charm. In the early scene of the sabotaged wedding, her outraged sister (well-played by Ms. Perkins) shouts that she makes it impossible for anyone to love her, and you're inclined to agree. But by the time "28 Days" ends, you'll be rooting for Sandy as you always do.