Review: Two Weeks Notice (2002)

Directed by: Marc Lawrence | 101 minutes | comedy, romance | Actors: Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant, Alicia Witt, Dana Ivey, Robert Klein, Heather Burns, David Haig, Dorian Missick, Joseph Badalucco Jr., Jonathan Dokuchitz, Veanne Cox, Janine LaManna, Iraida Polanco, Charlotte Maier, Katheryn Winnick, Jason Antoon, Rocco Musacchia, Wynter Kullman, Francie Swift, Adam Grupper, Johnny Dee, John Cunningham, Mark Feuerstein, David Aaron Baker, Teagle F. Bougere, Mandy Siegfried, Mark Zeisler, Nadine Mozon, Tim Kang, Libby West, Sharon Wilkins, Mike Piazza, Shannon Fiedler, Becky Ann Baker, Adam LeFevre, Sebastian Rand, George Gearhart King III, Donald Trump, Norah Jones, Bill Bowers, William Thourlby, Elizabeth Owens, Dori Kancher, Marina Lutz, José Ramón Rosario

Lawyer Lucy Kelson and billionaire George Wade are opposites. You come across them more often in a romantic comedy. They are the basic ingredients of an ingenious or sad love fairy tale. It seems simple: all you have to do as a writer is invent a situation where the opposites are forced to interact. In this way they get to know each other and, eventually, they fall in love with each other against will and thanks.

This schedule has been neatly followed by the screenwriter of ‘Two Weeks Notice’. If the opinionated Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) wants to save her beloved community center, she has to work for George Wade (Hugh Grant), who is lifted over the horse. They spend so much time together that they have to fall for each other. Although it takes a very long time in this film.

The writer probably already knew which actors would play the lead characters, because Lucy Kelson and George Wade are exactly the characters that Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant have portrayed countless times. As in almost all of her films, Bullock is a wayward woman who is a bit lonely and strange, but sweet. The scenes in which Lucy is alone at home ordering a one-person meal illustrate these traits, which we also saw in ‘The Net’ and ‘Miss Congeniality’. Hugh Grant is the ever-charming English woman who eventually gets over his arrogance to win over the girl. Bullock and Grant do their trick very well, but that does not make the film a successful comedy. The film is hardly funny and the chemistry between Grant and Bullock is hard to find.

‘Two Weeks Notice’ is a predictable film, a typical Sandra Bullock film. Great for an evening hanging out on the couch. And if you love Sandra Bullock you should definitely see him. It is certainly not one of the best, but not the worst in the Bullock genre either. The same goes for Grant’s lovers. Sit back and enjoy how Grant portrays the same character for the umpteenth time. If you have nothing to do with Bullock or Grant or if you prefer to see something new, get another film.