Two Weeks Notice, directed by Marc Lawrence, is a romantic comedy about a woman named Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) who is a very neurotic lawyer. She cares deeply about her client, one extremely wealthy George Wade (Hugh Grant) who cares very little for her and treats her like a servant despite the fact that he is unable to do without her daily advice on matters ranging from clothes he should wear to what he should say to so and so. Finally, she is tired of the way he is treating her so she gives him her two weeks notice that she is going to quit. Now he begins to realize just how much he needs her in more ways than a just work related relationship.
Two Weeks Notice is mostly and mainly an attempt at a feel-good romantic comedy that could easily make for the next Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan collaboration in which they both hate one another at the beginning and end up loving one another at the end. It's just that this one stars Brit Hugh Grant, garnering awards consideration for the infinitely better About a Boy, and the reigning romantic comedy queen, Sandra Bullock, who, in this type of film, is almost assuredly money in the bank. Perfectly predictable and formulaic but an audience pleaser nonetheless. The film never attempts to explore in any depth the relationships between coworkers or people in general. Instead, it is content to travel the path well traveled by just about every romantic comedy ever made since the beginning of the genre in the world of film.
The film attempts to be a fun light-hearted mix of good old-fashioned romance and verbal and slapstick comedy. For the most part, the film is not very successful at being funny. The problem is that both main characters are unlikable. Grant's character is a stuck-up and callous individual who is unkind to almost every other character in the film yet we are supposed to care about what happens to him. Bullock's character is neurotic and yells and screams at everyone else constantly yet we are supposed to feel sorry for her and then root for her. Their budding romantic relationship doesn't work because the two actors don't have good chemistry at all with one another. The actors clearly dislike each other and it shows on screen. The supporting actors are all pushed to the background and therefore, do not make any impression on the viewer.
The film's technical credits are sufficiently well done for this type of film. The production design is appropriately bright and colorful for such a film, the cinematography, while nothing to write home about, is of sufficient quality and gets the job done. The soundtrack, like the production design, enhances the light-hearted tone of the film but doesn't succeed at being very memorable either.Overall, Two Weeks Notice is a wholly bland and rather disappointing film that could have been something greater had its two usually likable stars had the right amount of chemistry or well-written and likable personalities to play.
Rating: 70
joe@currentlyplaying.com
Back to:
© 2002 webmaster@currentlyplaying.com