28 Days

Mental institutions and rehab centres have become the new temples of truth. Also, stars that slip down the charts find risk-taking pays dividends. Look at Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich.

Sandra Bullock hit the A-list running, after finding herself behind the wheel of the bus in Speed. Since then she has made one turkey after another. Who remembers Richard Attenborough's film about young Ernest Hemingway in an Italian hospital, being cared for by a sensible nurse (our Sandra)? It died a death at the box office, despite being one of her better efforts.

Now she wants to rubbish the wholesome image by playing an alcoholic, who is forced to take the cure. The result is crushingly predictable. She starts by being arrogant and bloody minded, learns humility, discards her callous boyfriend (Dominic West), has a crush on a dull baseball player (Viggo Mortensen) and comes out of it a better person.

There is no Jack Nicholson to liven things up, only a collection of misfits and depressives, all of whom have qualities hidden away there, reinforcing the misconception that inside every addict a lonely nice person is scrambling to get out.