Release date: 7 February 2003
THERE had been a fair amount of hype about the movie Two Weeks Notice prior to its release date in February 2003, but I never got a chance to see it on the big screen. In early December I found myself with a spare evening and decided to rent it on video.
Written by Sandra Bullock of Speed, The Net and While You were Sleeping fame she stars herself, together with Hugh Grant.
I ask myself whether Bullock ever plays anything other than a lonely, but feisty single female living on her own, ordering take-outs for one every night. I guess Hugh Grant mostly plays similar roles too, as the scatter brained, slightly awkward and easily embarrassed love god who makes sure the female lead gets to have the required fairy tale ending. I'm thinking here of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary and lately Love Actually.
Bullock takes on the role of tree hugging lawyer who single handedly attempts to save her local neighbourhood from destruction. She agrees to work for George Wade (Hugh Grant) an influential property lawyer and, as is to be expected, at first they don’t really get on, throwing insults at each other as Bullock bumbles her way through the film with feeble lines and regularly falling over things as though she had perfected it as an art form. All this makes it rather difficult to believe that she is supposed to portray a brilliant professional. Although there has been some comedy up to this point, almost slapstick in places, little romance has been in evidence.
Bullock becomes fed up with her demanding boss and attempts to leave her job, but by now Grant realises how much he has come to depend on his head strong colleague and doesn’t let her go. She even has to help him decide which suit and tie to wear to an important function.
True to every romantic comedy, the sparks continue to fly amidst the growing attraction between the two lawyers and of course the film ends with them finding true love. The audience, however, is left slightly wanting, since the script and the acting never really come close to fulfilling the expectations of a satisfying on screen experience of this genre.
23/03/04
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