Best movie of this year hands down!

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Sandra Bullock is Gwen Cummings, a writer with a cute British boyfriend (Dominic West) who seems to be having a great time with life. Arriving late for her sisters wedding she proceeds to get exceptionally smashed, steal a limo and crash into a house while in her underwear and out searching for a cake to replace the one she destroyed. You get the feeling that this isn't a day that's too far out of the ordinary for her. Gwen gets herself a DUI and 28 days in court-ordered rehab or jail time.At first Gwen refuses to confirm to the rules of rehab, much less admit she might actually have a problem. Its only after she breaks her leg trying to escape and slows down enough to listen, participate in group and get to know some of the fellow patients that change occurs.Bullock is always an easy watch, and she does a great job here, helped along by an assortment of interesting fellow re-habbers including Viggo Mortensen, Steve Buscemi, Alan Tudyk and Margo Martindale.Despite the rehab facility coming across a bit like summer camp there is a serious and sad undertone here exposed in flashbacks to Gwen's chaotic childhood with her alcoholic mother - I really enjoyed that aspect but for the most part this is a comedy.I've seen this a few times over the years, its one of those movies that I find myself watching whenever I catch it on TV. 3/28/16

Newspaper writer somehow has the time and energy between assignments to be a booze-swilling, pill-popping, sexually loose ne'er-do-well who is an embarrassment to her prim and proper sister; she enters rehab as an alternative to jail after hijacking a limousine drunk and driving it into someone's house. Lousy star-vehicle for Sandra Bullock, one loaded down with pop tunes to fill the gaps and an initially condescending view of rehabilitation patients as touchy-feely morons prone to singing and easy crying. Director Betty Thomas wants to have it both ways: to cynically view the 12-step system through Sandra's eyes and also show that the system works in order to better Bullock's character. The film is a laughless morass ultimately tailed to its star (designed to show off her many sides, her sass and pathos, etc.), but Sandra Bullock as an actress runs hot and cold. I admired her star-making performance in "Speed", and she was too cute for words in "While You Were Sleeping", but she cannot carry a would-be weighty character study like this alone--and neither Thomas nor screenwriter Susannah Grant provides her with any help. Elizabeth Perkins plays Bullock's sister with a pinched mouth and a glare of disapproval, to show us how pity can evolve into hatred; however, this is hardly a person for Bullock's character to aspire to be. Perkins looks as bad off as her sibling, but with the caveat that she's been groomed with money. * from ****

I'm trying to figure out what people don't like about this movie. This is a really well done, reasonably accurate portrayal of an alcoholic that just needs to get set on the right recovery path and hopefully is one of the few who actually succeed. The acting and the cast are just plain great, the story is goodhearted, spiritual and honestly sends a really sensible and worthwhile message to the world. It's really clever and funny to boot. Sandra Bullock has made so many successful famous movies, maybe this one is just too nice, accurate and compassionate and got lost for lack of being sensational enough. I like several of the characters enough that I actually consider several of them iconic. They are so representative of people I have actually known it's almost scary. I LOVE this movie.

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.