Movie
Review | Two Weeks Notice
Reviewed by: Brian
Orndorf
Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) is an idealistic lawyer who believes
in preserving community at all costs. George Wade (Hugh Grant) is a
filthy rich corporate figurehead who is only concerned about his
public image. When Lucy tries to convince George not to destroy a
Coney Island community center he owns, he persuades her to come work
as his private lawyer. The two are complete opposites, and George’s
business and personal demands on Lucy’s time drive her nuts, and
eventually drive her to quit. When her replacement turns out to be a
younger, prettier woman (Alicia Witt), Lucy must reexamine her real
feelings for George, and still try to convince him to save the center.
“Two Weeks Notice” is basically “The Sandra and Hugh Show,”
with the two increasingly forgettable actors coasting on what remains
of both their respective personas for a full 90 minutes of dreadful
comedy. Even “Jackass” had better conceived characters than this
film. But why? Is it an innate, leisurely need to just goof around and
hope it comes off as fun times for all? Virtually every scene in
“Two Weeks Notice” is just an excuse for Bullock and Grant to fool
around with their dialog, to a point where I swear there must have
been behind-the-scenes betting on which of them would crack up the
other first. Or is it that the leads expect the audience to eat up
every last morsel of their condescending attitudes toward their own
appeal, and drop all attempts at providing actually storytelling and
true character realization? All of the above and more.
Hugh Grant is the worst offender here, as this is seemingly the
millionth time he’s played the stammering British bobblehead of a
suitor role. After working so hard to remind the world that he still
matters as an actor with real performances in “Bridget Jones’s
Diary,” and the terribly overlooked “About A Boy,” here is Grant
again, running through his tired routines that went stale in 1995.
It’s sad to see an actor attempt to cruise through an entire movie
without one real moment of truth, but Grant achieves it. Even in an
inconsequential romantic vehicles such as this, Grant’s smug
performance is all wet.
On the other hand, Sandra Bullock produced this film, and carefully
picked her novice director, Marc Lawrence, as well. So who’s to
blame, really? One gets the feeling that Bullock knows her audience
well, which is why she’s perfectly content with giving them the same
film again she’s made before in “While You Were Sleeping” and
“Miss Congeniality.” Lawrence, who scripted this film, as well as
“Congeniality” and Bullock’s “Forces Of Nature,” doesn’t
have anything much to say with his picture (and his corporate music
tastes stink as well, with the film using the oft-purchased songs
“Respect” and “Papa‘s Got A Brand New Bag” for a
soundtrack). He just provides broad outlines for scenes to happen, but
neglects to tie anything together to form an actual motion picture out
of it all. Honestly, can somebody please tell me the actual plot of
this film?
Sandra Bullock just brings her slack sense of physical comedy, and
her own brand of “Hugh Grant style” stammering to her role.
She’s asleep here, possibly in recoil mode after her dramatic
“stretch” in last spring’s “Murder By Numbers” was soundly
ignored. For some reason that will take a night of gin and sobbing to
figure out, Bullock in “Two Weeks Notice” isn’t nearly as
annoying as she was in “Miss Congeniality,” though she tries just
about as hard to be. Go figure.
After seeing how director Wayne Wang could bring a little heart and
joy into the routine “Maid In Manhattan,” it kills me to see a
dangerously similar film released a week later and not trying
nearly as hard to do anything with itself. Both Bullock and Grant
deserve a year long time out before they try again to skate by so
blatantly on charisma that is deteriorating at a dramatic speed.
Grade: 2/10
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