It should not come as any surprise, particularly if you regularly read my reviews, that I would find a Sandra Bullock film charming.  Why I have yet to make it my mission to see every one of her films I could not tell you.  In any case, while perusing the streaming services, I ran across Two Weeks Notice (2002).  I liked it so much that I was able to get over the punctuation issue in the title, even though I have its correct rendering in my notes.  This is going to make the rest of this just a little more difficult to write, but worth the effort.  Then, as I enjoyed the interplay between the two leads, George Wade (Hugh Grant) and Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock), it was sweetened that much more with Norah Jones (as herself) playing in the climactic scene.  The song, “The Nearness of You,” will absolutely tear your heart out.  But, I am a sentimental fool. . . .

The opening credits of Two Weeks Notice tell you all you need to know about George and Lucy.  Featuring pictures of their varied upbringings, he grew up with the luxury of English privilege while she was raised by social crusading parents.  Following in their footsteps, we first meet Lucy as an adult lawyer as she and her two soon-to-be-engaged friends attempt to stop the destruction of a historic Brooklyn theater.  Undaunted by her failure, she next turns her attention to saving the Coney Island community center.  While eating enough Chinese food for a small family, she targets the face of Wade Enterprises, the development company threatening the landmark, that person being George.  At the moment, he is meeting with his brother, Howard Wade (David Haig), the person who actually runs their successful company.  Howard is not pleased with George, in general because of the younger George’s devil-may-care attitude, but more specifically because George keeps sleeping with (and losing) lead counsels/assistants.  This time, George is instructed to find one who is not only competent and well educated, but would prove resistant to his charms.  With this in mind, as he is walking out of corporate headquarters, he is stopped by Lucy.  She is trying to steer his attention towards the cause of the community center, but he begins interviewing her for the open position.  He is impressed with her Ivy League background, but she wants nothing to do with his organization and everything it represents.  Despite her protests, he offers the job with the promise that he will keep the community center from being bulldozed.  The generous salary helps, too.  Lucy’s parents, Larry (Robert Klein) and Ruth Kelson (Dana Ivey), are not keen on their daughter taking this job, though dad sees it an opportunity to change things from the inside.  With at least a half-hearted encouragement, Lucy accepts the offer.  It immediately becomes apparent that George is less interested in her work, though there are ample legal things to do, and more in her opinions on what he should wear, or the type of mattress he should purchase.  As exasperating as these questions are, they are made worse when he is calling her in the middle of the night to ask about a woman he is talking to at a bar.  The raison d’etre for the film comes shortly after this sequence when he sends her an emergency text while she is serving as the maid of honor at her friends’ wedding.  Rushing out of the church and to his hotel room home at the top of business he owns, it turns out that all he needs is for her to pick out his suit for a charity function.  It is at this point that she informs him that she will be quitting after the eponymous amount of time has elapsed.  She then promptly begins looking for other jobs.  Yet, when she goes to interview at various law firms, she learns that he has used his influence to get them all to say that they are not hiring.  Seeing how angry she is, he eventually relents, though makes her promise to help him find a replacement for her.  There are a few candidates to whom they speak, but he botches them all essentially just by opening his mouth.  Then comes June Carver (Alicia Witt).  Alicia went to Harvard, like Lucy, and is a young and attractive woman, which is George’s type.  He wants to hire June as soon as they meet, but Lucy wants to do some more vetting.  This is code for Lucy becoming slightly competitive with June, which spills over into a trip to the tennis club.  What is supposed to be a friendly doubles match turns into a one-on-one game between June and Lucy.  It ends when Lucy is painfully struck on the forehead by a violent volley off June’s racket.  It is George that takes Lucy home.  The next day, though, George invites June to go with him to another charity event.  Lucy is somewhat annoyed by this, but she plans on dolling herself up and impressing him when she arrives.  On the way to the function, Howard phones George to tell his brother that they are going to have to knock down the community center.  As such, while Lucy’s entrance has the intended effect (and this is when we get the Norah Jones song), it is ruined when June interrupts with the update about Lucy’s pet project.  Devastated, she leaves, but decides to appeal to George one last time.  Instead, she finds George and Lucy in the process of undressing.  This comes the day before Lucy is to complete her term of employment.  When he shows up at her going away party, all she wants to know is why he lied.  He has no good answer.  Then comes the day when they are set to bulldoze the community center.  George gives a speech talking about how they need to keep the structure standing, which leads to his resignation.  Lucy finds out about this when George comes to her new job at Legal Aid and reading her his speech.  He walks out and, after considering a moment, she runs out after him.  They are in love and presumably live happily ever after.

There is a quote in Two Weeks Notice from Sri Yoganada, a Hindu spiritual leader.  It goes, “Only that which is the other gives us fully unto ourselves.”  It is told to Lucy in a moment of need when she is being encouraged to fight for George, the man she clearly loves though is unwilling to admit it.  As a Catholic, I can seem some wisdom in these words, which should show you at least some of the ecumenical spirit to which we Christians are called.  God either works through all or He is not at all what He says.  That does not mean we should accept non-Catholic traditions as being true, even partially so.  The point is that, with Jesus as the filter, we can get what we need from a yogi.  Better yet, we can find Christian equivalents, and leave it at a nice intersection of faiths instead of further exploring an Eastern religion.  Anyway, the obvious Christian parallel is the so-called “Golden Rule,” which comes from Matthew 7:12, “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.”  In other words, if you want to be treated nicely, start by doing so for others.  What a world this would be if we were to put this into practice.  Yet, there is an argument against this in the film, uttered by George in a more petulant mood, when he accuses Lucy of being too perfect.  This fits with this sense in our culture that we should not have to try to do our best, by others or especially by ourselves.  Following the Golden Rule is too hard, we are metaphorically told.  George echoes this sentiment by telling Lucy that nobody likes a saint, that such people are boring.  Had it been me arguing with him, I would have responded by telling him to look at the life of any saint and tell me it was dull.  One has to do some extraordinary things to be counted among their company.  I am not calling him one, but this is what he does at the end by leaving his company.

Critics at the time did not like Two Weeks Notice.  I found one from The Washington Post that called it “a steaming pile of horse manure.”  I was more interested in what it had to say about that quote I mentioned in the last paragraph, which it mocked by saying there is nothing spiritual about this movie.  If that is true, then I must be mad given what I just wrote.  That critic could stand to get a good dose of the Golden Rule, which Jesus amends in Matthew 7:12 by stating, “This is the law and the prophets.”  What He means is that this behavior is at the core of our Faith, and it is good to see a film speak to it.  Thus, I recommend this one.