Two Weeks Notice (2002)

Two Weeks Notice (2002): Dir: Marc Lawrence / Cast: Hugh Grant, Sandra Bullock, Alicia Witt, Dana Ivey, Robert Klein: Boring romantic comedy that is about as much fun as a pap smear test. It is the kind of film where one brings sleeping pills in hopes that they put him to sleep before the film does. Title represents time factor for which Sandra Bullock claims to be working for Hugh Grant but it really indicates the limits before they come together. Bullock plays an attorney struggling to save a shelter. She refers to Hugh Grant who is in charge of the wreckage and hires her on his staff. She is not impressed. She is awakened by his bored phone calls, paged at a wedding ceremony, etc. This film is so boring that if the phone rang while two people viewed it then both would scramble to answer it. Director Marc Lawrence does an uninspiring job with this bland production. There is nothing romantic about it and all it really accomplishes is taking two appealing leads and making them as dull as possible devoid of charm. Grant does his best with his wit and charm but cannot pull his role above conventions. Bullock is starting to repeat herself with these embarrassing romantic roles. In supporting roles are Alicia Witt as his replacement with obvious intentions. Dana Ivey is also featured. This junk is without a shred of originality. Its screenplay consists of two weeks worth of garbage. Score: 1 / 10

....this is ghastly. I only watched it with half an eye as I had some work to do and couldn't justify snatching the remote from Mrs Mac.There seems to be many of you out who adore the formulaic rom com, and if that's your poison then I guess you'll like this. But - and this is a big but - this is so tragically weak compared to Four Weddings, Notting Hill, Love Actually and Bridget Jones that you really shouldn't ruin your genre enjoyment by watching this.I'm pretty sure this was thrown together by a middle management executive at whichever studio produced it, where bottom line was the primary reason for commissioning it."Two top stars, keep them as typecast as possible, keep the budget under $100M including the promotion and we'll make $50 Million"A waste of talented actors, a waste of half my eye for 90 minutes and a waste of your time if you ignore this.

Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) is a community organizer lawyer fighting big corporate real estate developers. She's trying to save a community center on Coney Island. George Wade (Hugh Grant) is a rich developer who needs a lead counsel who proposes to save the center if she works for him. She becomes more and more his babysitter for his ridiculousness.The premise seems really silly. How do you slap together these two disparate characters? It would be much better to cut out the first 15 minutes. The fact is Bullock and Grant are great rom-com actors. They both do that affable schtick with perfect comedic timing. They are really the same actor. It's just that one is wearing a dress.

Two Weeks Notice is a conventional story done in an unconventional way. The two characters are total opposite and yet, no real clashes happens. The movie even refrained from doing an over exaggerated introduction of them. They both are presented in strong terms, yes, but not over done.If you can't stand easy witty wordy humor like Hugh Grant so charmingly display in this piece, something he excels at, you better not watch it. It's those dialogs that propel this movie forward. He does it in an unpretentious earnest way, which is why Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) ends up working for him.The story is simple, the photography very good, and nothing is out of place. This film doesn't reinvent the genre, but it's a very well built offspring.See it for good entertainment.