Plot: What’s it about?
It’s been said that romantic comedies, or screwball comedies, might have had their roots back to the 1930’s. With titles like It Happened One Night and Bringing Up Baby paving the way for countless others to follow in their immortal footsteps. Needless to say, the romantic comedy movie has been done and done and done…you get the idea. Still, audiences find it very satisfying when we know that the two leads (usually total opposites) are hopelessly attracted to each other, like Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in Annie Hall and like Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan (who had the market cornered on this particular genre at one time) in When Harry Met Sally. Love is the one thing that most any person on this Earth can relate to and movies about them, comedic or not, are very touching and can get the best of us. With the success of the genre, there’s really no end in sight as people continue to fall in love, even when they don’t know it. So with this latest entry into the screwball comedy market, can Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock pull it off? You bet.
Grant plays industrial tycoon George Wade. A Donald Trump clone (who has a cameo in the film, by the way) who makes his living, along with his brother, by tearing down old parts of New York only to build new condos. Enter Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock), daughter of two lawyers and a graduate of Harvard Law School. Lucy is always trying to make a statement, not motivated by materialistic needs, she has the freedom to do so at her leisure. As fate would have it, George has just let his latest lawyer go and is on the lookout for a new one. After a less than stellar interview session, he literally bumps into Lucy who is trying to convince him not to tear down a local theater near her childhood home. Taken with her, he hires her as his lawyer and all is well. But not for long…Lucy’s brutal honesty is just what George needs and it’s not long that he starts calling on her day and night for advice; ranging from anything from what to wear to what kind of bed to pick out. Naturally, Lucy resents this, but puts up with it because she likes her job and feels that she is accomplishing something. Time passes and it’s about a year later that she’s finally fed up with George’s antics. The title of the film comes into play here and she, you guessed it, turns in her two weeks notice.
The rest of the movie, though predictable, is just as fun as the first half. Lucy interviews a fellow Harvard alumni who gets the job based on her looks (George is a notorious playboy) and one thing leads to another. The company, needing to reverse their decision to not destroy the community theater, is now going to destroy the theater because they need the money. It’s a lot of “been there, done that” when it comes to this sort of movie, but the presence of Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock make this film more than watchable. The closest thing I can compare it to would be My Best Friends Wedding in the sense that we do know what might happen, but the plot is good enough and there is enough verbal and physical humor to keep us laughing all the way through. Marc Lawrence, who not only wrote but directed the movie as well, shows that he is improving at this genre (he also wrote Forces of Nature and the updated version of The Out of Towners). Grant only seems to get better and better with the films he chooses, his mumbling English humor hit a note with me and I think he’s a terribly underrated actor. Again, while we rather know what will happen in the end, getting there is half the fun and Two Weeks Notice showed that it had all the right elements to make a romantic/screwball comedy work.
Video: How does it look?
It’s been a dozen years since I first saw Two Weeks Notice on DVD and when watching this new Blu-ray, I was reminded of how far we’ve come – technology-speaking. While this catalog title doesn’t look bad, the 1.85:1 AVC HD image has a few areas that could have used a little TLC by Warner. But let’s face it, this isn’t exactly the most sought-after title in the Warner catalog, so I’m sure they gave it their standard treatment. Having said that, the movie seems to be a bit sharper, a bit more defined and has a depth that I didn’t see on the DVD. Colors are bit more bold and stronger while flesh tones seemed normal. This is pretty indicative of a standard Warner DVD to Blu-ray catalog title.
Audio: How does it sound?
The previous Dolby Digital soundtrack has been replaced by a DTS HD Master Audio mix that is again – fairly indicative of romantic comedies. The movie is dialogue driven, by and large, with some ambient music to set the happy go lucky tone of the film. The surrounds are present at the just the right time, I think I might have heard some LFE in a scene or two, but by and large this is your standard track. Audiences will be pleased with the general sound of the movie, but this is certainly nothing to sample your system with. Well done. Not great, but good.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Again, this is Warner just pushing out what’s already been available on DVD for over a decade. Sandra Bullock has become quite the draw since the movie came out and Warner seized the opportunity to get this out just before Valentine’s Day (and Oscar season). The supplements that are included are the same as the standard DVD.
- Audio Commentary – Director Marc Lawrence, Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock sit down for a very lively track, though nothing much is really learned. It’s them sitting down and having fun while watching the movie.
- HBO First Look: The Making of Two Weeks Notice – This is about as standard as it comes with some behind the scenes footage and some interviews with the cast and crew.
- Deleted Scenes – Two in all.
- Two Bleeps Notice – A very clever way of saying “Gag Reel.”
- Theatrical Trailer
