Two Weeks Notice on DVD

Sandra Bullock stars with Hugh Grant in a romantic comedy that actually made us laugh out loud several times.

Most of our laughs were caused by Hugh Grant’s character’s lines. He’s George Wade, a big time New York City-based developer and playboy who’s the target of bleeding heart liberal lawyer Lucy Kelson (Bullock). Like a typical liberal, Lucy wants to save the world and everything in it by forcing everyone and everything to fit into her view of how things should be. George, on the other hand, knows how the world is, and likes it, though he’s also up for an adventure and for making things better as he goes.

Lucy comes across George and means to launch into a diatribe against him and anyone who thinks like him (she thinks she knows him though they’d never met before) - but George is so impressed with her that he hires her on the spot to be his chief counsel. She goes along with it, reluctantly, knowing that it’s best to “keep your enemies closer” and still feeling that he and his type are the cause of all the world’s evils.

But there’s more to George than meets the eye and that’s both good and bad for Lucy. It’s good in that she can help “turn him from the dark side” and get him to do good work with his wealth and power - and bad in that he comes to depend on her so much she can’t have any sort of life on her own because he phones her at all hours of the day to get her opinion on such world-shattering issues as which tie to wear.

It’s the old love/hate relationship at its best. We know they secretly love each other, or will by movie’s end, but in the meantime George drives Lucy absolutely nuts and this causes her to give her two week’s notice.

The bulk of the movie happens during this period as Lucy is tasked with finding her own replacement while remaining professional enough to ensure she finds someone as good as she. While she’s interviewing one particularly perky and precocious applicant (Alicia Witt) George happens to come in and is immediately taken by her. But Lucy figures the new kid’s just a gold-digger, which as it turns out is being unfair to both her and George.

All ends well, of course, but not before the protagonists have a major crisis that’s solved mostly by George eating crow and a final epiphany by Lucy that causes her to suck up her liberal weeniness and run after George before he’s gone forever.

Bullock and Grant are both terrific here, though neither breaks new ground with his characterization. That’s okay, though; both of these actors have built comfortable personas that work, and they work well together here. Part of the credit must go to writer/director Marc Lawrence, who also scripted Bullock’s last hit “Miss Congeniality.”

One dark cloud: the writer/director found it necessary to insert a couple of typical Hollywood liberal political shots that could be taken right from the Democratic party's talking points. These shots are minor, fortunately, but are also out of place, unnecessary to the film and completey unwarranted by the script. But they're also unsurprising.

The DVD is very good. Warners, unfortunately, has chosen to release it in both anamorphic widescreen and Pan&Scan versions under separate cover, which we really hate because it forces consumers to choose a version (when both could just as easily be included on the same disc). Fortunately, we got the anamorphic widescreen version and it’s a good piece of work. Picture quality of this 16x9 TV compatible disc is very nice, with a sharp, deep image and rich colors.

Audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and though there isn’t a lot of surround the overall sound quality is very good as well.

Extras include an entertaining commentary track featuring Bullock, Grant, and Lawrence. The best way to watch the commentary track is to use the “two bleeps notice” feature that also lets you branch (when a heart appears on the screen) to outtakes from the scene unfolding. You also get two deleted scenes, an HBO puff piece on the making of the film, and some cast/crew info. There’s also the theatrical trailer.

Two Weeks Notice, from Warner Home Video
102 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 TV compatible/Pan&Scan (Sold Separately), Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
Starring Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant, Alicia Witt, Robert Klein, Dana Ivey, Heather Burns
Produced by Sandra Bullock
Written and directed by Marc Lawrence

Tell us at TechnoFile what YOU think