Two Weeks Notice
Directed by: Marc
Lawrence
Starring: Hugh
Grant and Sandra Bullock
Review by : Matt McConnel
Why did
I see this again? Oh yes, it was free. And truth be told it
was not as bad as I had expected or feared. In point of fact
I had a pleasant time. Two Weeks Notice is a romantic comedy
starring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. It is not an especially
spectacular movie, but it is one that is exceptionally tolerable
for its ilk.
Sandra
Bullock is Lucy Kelson, a LEFT wing lawyer crusading for just
about anything when she tries to save a landmark in her home
neighborhood from the wrecking ball of the Wade Corporation.
In trying to convince George, the junior brother of the fraternal
management, Hugh Grant, she is suddenly hired on as the chief
council for the company. She agrees, and George promises to
save her community center. Problem is, and you've probably
seen the trailers, Grant's character is about as stable, self-absorbed,
and independent as a three week old puppy. Any woman who can
stand to be his chief council and it must be a woman to annoy
his brother, is usually not up to the job of being the sort
of lawyer that it takes to lead the law department of a major
corporation. But Lucy is up to the task, and a good half of
the movie is just the interaction between Bullock and Grant.
Then, because narrative demands, Lucy decides to quit and
has to find a replacement. She finds the young, attractive,
and actually capable June who begins to absorb Wade's interest.
But Wade is really in love with Lucy, blah, blah, and they
apparently feel the need to drag the movie on for another
45 minutes to make this point.
The real
fun in Two Weeks Notice is the interplay between the actors.
It is really wonderful to watch the chemistry between these
two veteran chick-flick actors. They both know the score,
and they are just having fun. No one in this movie really
takes it too far, and they just run and play in their roles.
No deep demands are made of the actors, and they just have
fun. The dialogue is amusing, and there are some truly just
wonderful lines delivered with excellent timing. The first
half is rife with this, and make for some very pleasant viewing.
The second half kind of drops the ball a little, but makes
some good recoveries. The second half of the movie seems to
place less faith in the actor's abilities as it uses implicit
genre devices to denote the feelings of the two love interests.
There is only one scene where Lucy and George get any closer
than three inches, and the rest of the movie seemed contrived
after that.
I wanted
more play between Lucy and George, George and his driver/friend,
George and his brother, June and Lucy, June and George, Lucy
and her parents, and so forth. There are some great supporters
here most notably Alicia Witt as June, Robert Kline as Lucy's
dad, David Haig as the elder Wade brother, and a severely
underused gentleman Jonathan Dokuchitz as Lucy's assistant.
The movie
is what is it. It is a romantic comedy without any real meat
to it aside from escape for two hours. It is amusing, enjoyable,
and then it is done. It need not be anything more than that,
and thankfully it is not. Despite the second half's difference
in tone and pace, the movie ends as it began with some great
dialogue and a clever running gag.
Matt
once nailed Sandra Bullock in college. Well, that's what I
heard. Ask him about it here.
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