Two Weeks Notice (2001) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

A romantic comedy with Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock is more or less a standardized commodity, like "salt". Indeed, the two of them working together represent the top of the salt line, like Morton's. Hugh and Sandra are the best in the world at doing what they do, although I would be hard pressed to describe just exactly what that is, or to rationalize why one should do it.

I think of movies like this in the same way I regard McDonald's, a lesson in the fact that "predictable" is not necessarily equal to "bad".  If you are familiar with the other eating options, McDonald's is probably pretty low on your list, but if you're on an unfamiliar highway, and you can't afford botulism, McDonald's is always a safe option with a clean toilet.

NUDITY REPORT
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Try to look at movies the same way. There are some times when you have to deal with the unfamiliar. Let's say you want to see a really cool movie like The Usual Suspects or Predator, but you are going with a date, and she wants to see some utter bullshit like The Hours. Now, you've already resigned yourself to the fact that you will have to watch a complete and unredeemed piece of crap, but you may be able to talk your date into a lighthearted piece of crap instead of a sobfest. This is a situation in which Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock could be your key to avoiding some serious pain.

DVD info from Amazon

  • Audio commentary with Sandra Bullock, Hugh Grant, and writer-director Marc Lawrence

  • Two additional scenes

  • "Two Bleeps Notice" viewing option--watch movie with access to gags and on-set antics

  • HBO First Look: The Making of Two Weeks Notice

  • Widescreen anamorphic format, 1.85:1

Plus I'm betting that you have a better chance at getting laid after this movie than after some diatribe about how men have marginalized women throughout history, causing them all to turn gay or suicidal or both.

In this one, Grant plays a shallow, stammering, smarmy, self-centered, glib, zillionaire playboy. (Gosh, how did they ever think of Hugh for that role?). Sandra is an brilliant, activist lawyer with no interest in material wealth. She agrees to work for zillionaire Hugh in order to save a community center which is also a treasured architectural landmark. You know the rest.

By the way, Robert Klein is in this movie and, as far as I can see, he has finally managed to stop his leg.

The Critics Vote

  • General consensus: two and a half stars. Ebert 3/4, Berardinelli 2.5/4, BBC 2/5.

The People Vote ...

  • IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 5.9/10, Yahoo voters 3.4/5
  • Box Office Mojo. A hit! $93 million box office. (Production cost $60 million, marketing approximately $30 million)
  • Exit interviews: Cinema Score. A B+ for men under 35, and A- for women the same age. It dropped a bit, but not much, for older audiences.

 
The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, this film is a C. Solid romantic comedy, with predictable character turns from Grant and Bullock. 

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