Given recent events, it's no wonder that Hollywood's filmmakers have turned New York into the romantic-comedy capital of the world, with Jennifer Lopez's "Maid in Manhattan" and Sandra Bullock's "Two Weeks Notice" both set in the city of yellow cabs, hotdogs, and Central Park.
But if there's going to be a sudden influx of visitors to the Big Apple, it probably won't have much to do with this lazy effort.
Shot in Manhattan (with a helicopter ride over the city and a quick trip to Coney Island thrown in for good measure), "Two Weeks Notice" is a formulaic vehicle for Bullock that's so packaged it should have been delivered by the postal service.
As the radical lawyer who falls for the charms of Hugh Grant's posh, rich property tycoon, Bullock's in full autopilot mode. She trudges her way through a script that openly steals from the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie "You've Got Mail" and seems to have overlooked the two essential ingredients for any self-respecting romantic comedy - romance and comedy. Doh!
According to the script, Grant and Bullock's characters are made for each other. But you'd never guess that from the performances. Lucy (Bullock) takes a job with George (Grant) in order to save her local neighbourhood from destruction. The mismatched couple go through hate then love, with lots of hi-jinks along the way.
Playing his usual feckless Englishman crossed with a Donald Trump-style caricature ("My life is very much like Monopoly"), Grant comes out the best of the pair. He piles on the charm with his usual "Four Weddings and A Funeral" style combination of comic bumbling and endearingly tousled hair.
Meanwhile, Sandy spends most of the movie making her nose wrinkle in that way she's perfected so well.
Even giving it two minutes notice would be overly generous.
Two Weeks Notice (2003)
