28 Days

28 days, written by Susanna Grant, directed by Betty Thomas, starring Sandra Bullock is taglined, "the life of the party ...before she got a life." It was playing on TV last night and I caught the ending especially enjoying the scene with the fellow trying to keep his plant alive having been told maybe that's where he should begin before jumping right back into a relationship with human being. It was touching and amusing and true to the heart of recovery. I recalled how much I enjoyed it the first time, how I've loved all of Sandra Bullock's movies and thought how sensitively she'd portrayed this party girl journalist going through rehab. It's one of the movies I recommend especially to women who are enterring recovery. Alcoholism is a bitch but the laughter after is a kind of special reward. Clean and Sober, starring Michael Keaton, is the classic recovery movie. Certainly it's more raw. Sandra Bullock is an alcoholic in 28 days. Michael Keeton is an addict. There are high bottoms and low bottoms. The other great movie to watch in recovery is Post Cards from the Edge, written by Carrie Fischer and starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine. It speaks to the disease of addiction as a family and societal disease.