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| Two
Weeks Notice
Directed By: Marc
Lawrence Plot
Summary - Review 1 - Review
2 - CURRENT REVIEWS
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| Bullock stars as Lucy Kelson, Chief Counsel for the Wade Corporation, one of New York City's top commercial real estate developers. She's a brilliant lawyer with a sharp, strategic mind. She also has an ulcer and doesn't get much sleep. It's not the job that's getting to her. It's her millionaire boss, George Wade (Hugh Grant). Handsome, charming and undeniably self-absorbed, he treats her more like a nanny than a Harvard Law grad and can barely choose a tie without her help. Now, after five years of calling the shots-on everything from his clothes to his divorce settlements - Lucy Kelson is calling it quits. [TRAILER] Only a few weeks ago I trashed the romantic comedy “Maid In Manhattan,” likely to the scorn of those who enjoy puff romances and mind-numbed smiles. Today, I am pleased to report, I will prove to those people that I do indeed have a heart. The newest in the endless succession of romantic comedies is “Two Weeks Notice,” a film starring the loveable Hugh Grant and the gruff, hard-nosed Sandra Bullock. Unlike “Maid In Manhattan,” where a pretty-boy hooks up with a gorgeous maid solely because a script says so, “Two Weeks Notice” is a logical and, yes, plausible romance, making us believe that these two central characters actually have feelings for each other. By the film’s end, when things turn sweet, it is not just two people on a movie screen embracing. There is an emotional connection between the viewer and the viewed, and we celebrate as if we were their friends, feeling happy for two people who finally found the spark that we always saw between them. Grant plays a wealthy business tycoon, the second in command of a financial empire. His brother does all the talking, but Grant does get some nice perks. Bullock is a vigorous lawyer with an opposing political agenda. She meets Grant fortuitously as she protests one of his building projects. But he needs a lawyer, likes her tact, and gives her a job. It is during the course of this employment that they start to connect, but not in a forced, Hollywood, “Main In Manhattan-ish” sort of way. There are never artificial pleasantries, but rather some honest conversations and arguments. They bond a little bit, and it reaches the point where Grant is calling Bullock in the middle of the night to get her opinion on this or that. Bullock eventually tires of Grant’s irritating antics and announces her resignation, giving him two weeks notice. As Grant looks for a new female attorney, and Bullock gets a bit jealous, the emotions of both begin to come to the surface. Some may label “Two Weeks Notice” just another romantic comedy, but I think it does a few things that help it rise above mediocrity. First, this is not about unexplainable love at first sight, which is the copout of most romantic comedies, but about the slow bonding process of two polar opposites. We feel them budge, inch by inch, as they slowly let each other into their lives. There is also a cynical undercurrent to this romance about the unglamorous nature of modern courting rituals. They do not immediately fall for each other and make goo-goo eyes. Instead, the film explores the natural progression of things. They talk, with a bit of luck start to connect, become a habit in each other’s routine, and then a bout of jealousy prompts their honesty. Their level of interest is frequently driven by outside forces. In an interesting proposition, I wonder if they would have ever ended up together if not for Grant’s pursuits of another woman and Bullock’s stubborn envy. But that is for another essay. “Two Weeks Notice” has an undeniably genuine quality. Grant and Bullock play their parts perfectly, both exhibiting an outer shell while still allowing us to see some of their hidden, inner complexities. Their characters seem real as a result, refusing to compromise through the course of the film. The climax, while still including a fair bit of movie magic, is not profound, but humble, and it is a moment we honestly believe COULD happen in real life. More importantly, we believe it is something that should happen to these two proud, love-struck fools. And unlike “Maid In Manhattan,” “Bounce,” “Sweet Home Alabama” or any number of other recent romantic comedies, it moves according to the dynamic of their relationship, never the other way around. As they grow closer, the movie accelerates. For once, a movie does not proclaim the truth about two love-struck somebodies, but permits them time and space to convince us of that all on their own. See, even critics can enjoy a good romance. 
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