Two Weeks Notice (2002) |
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Two Weeks Notice (2002) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Comedy |
Dolby Digital Trailer-Rain Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Marc Lawrence (Director/Writer), Sandra Bullock & Hugh Grant Featurette Deleted Scenes Outtakes Filmographies-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer Main Menu Introduction |
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| Year Of Production | 2002 | ||
| Running Time | 97:02 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (45:53) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Marc Lawrence |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Hugh Grant Sandra Bullock Alicia Witt Dana Ivey Robert Klein Heather Burns |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
| RPI | $39.95 | Music | John Powell |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0  (192Kb/s)
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | Yes, postcard of Coney Island | ||
This is the first film featuring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock, and represents the directorial debut of Marc Lawrence who also wrote the script. They play two characters who are completely the opposite in terms of social upbringing, values and personality, and yet they can't help falling in love with each other. It is also one of the first major films to be shot entirely in New York City after 11 September 2001. It did reasonably well at the box office.
Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) grew up with "socially conscious" parents - Larry (Robert Klein) and Ruth (Dana Ivey) - and became a political activist at a young age. These days, she likes to campaign to save old heritage buildings around New York City from being torn down to make way for new development.
George Wade (Hugh Grant) on the other hand was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and is currently the public face of the Wade Corporation, a company that specializes in tearing down old buildings to make way for huge tall new buildings. Although George's name and face is on all the magazines, in reality it is his brother Howard (David Haig) that actually runs the company.
The two meet when Lucy tries to accost George to stop him from tearing down an old community centre in the neighbourhood where she grew up (Coney Island). As it happens, George is on the lookout for a new corporate counsel. The previous ones that he hired (all women) were really pretty but turned out to be really incompetent and graduated from law schools nobody had heard of.
When George finds out that Lucy is a lawyer who graduated from Harvard, he decides to hire her on the spot. Lucy agrees, on condition that George agrees to keep the community centre.
Over the next few months, he gradually becomes dependant on her common sense approach to things and her unfailing good advice. Lucy on the other hand is getting exasperated with George as he literally bugs her continuously for advice on anything: clothes, furniture, girlfriends, divorce, ...
Finally, she can't stand it anymore, and quits, giving her "two weeks notice." George, however, tries his best to make her stay, including making sure nobody else will hire her.
Finally, they agree to part ways, and Lucy helps George find a replacement - the opportunistic June Carver (Alicia Witt). This of course give rise to jealous feelings in Lucy. Just as George and Lucy come to the realisation they love each other, Lucy finds out that the community centre is going to be torn down after all as Howard can't make the project profitable. What will happen next ...?
This is a widescreen 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced transfer based on a 35mm film print with an intended aspect ratio of 1.85:1.
Given that the film is recent, the film source is obviously in good condition and is fairly clean.
Detail levels are high, although the film generally has a slightly soft and low contrast look. Colours are well presented, though probably a touch on the undersaturated side.
I did not detect any compression artefacts. Fortunately, it looks like no edge enhancement has been applied.
There are two subtitle tracks: English for the Hearing Impaired and an English transcription of the audio commentary. The dialogue transcription of the soundtrack includes dialogue attribution, description of Foley effects and background music.
This is a single sided dual layered disc (RSDL). The layer change occurs at Chapter 14 around 45:53 as George stares at Lucy sleeping. Although it results in a pause, it is well placed and not obtrusive.
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There are two audio tracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s), and English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (192Kb/s).
As is to be expected, this is a fairly front-centre dialogue-focused film, but it has a nice "presence" about it.
Dialogue is fairly clear, and there are no instances of audio synchronization issues (except during the office stapler cat fight where the ADR wasn't very well done).
The original music score is by John Powell and seems to be mostly light instrumental jazz.
I didn't really notice the subwoofer being used at all. Surround channel usage is fairly minimal, except during the helicopter scene around 59:14-59:30.
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There are a reasonable amount of extras, and most of them are subtitled as well.
This is 16x9 enhanced, animated and includes background audio. It is preceded by an animated intro.
Automatically played just prior to the commencement of the film.
Hugh starts off with a fairly hoarse voice, but improves as the film progresses. The three seem to hit it off very well with each other, and come across as friends rather than colleagues. There is quite a lot of gentle teasing between the trio, but occasionally I felt as if I was eavesdropping onto three friends chatting at a table in a café rather than listening to a commentary track. As well as the usual comments about scenes, locations, production anecdotes and casting, the trio also point out friends playing cameo roles in various parts of the film. There are several references to deleted scenes together with the promise that they will be on the DVD but I didn't find them in the "Additional Scenes" section in the extras.
Some interesting information I found out during the commentary was that they actually shot a scene in one of Donald Trump's houses in Westchester (the scene of George visiting Howard), the scene in the helicopter ride was shot using blue screen, and the proper way to pronounce words like "renaissance" and "kebab" ...
This is a standard promotional featurette combining excerpts of the film, behind the scenes footage and interview segments with cast and crew. It is presented in full frame (except for film excerpts which are around 1.85:1 letterboxed) and Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).
Interviews include:
These are all presented in 1.85:1 letterboxed (not 16x9 enhanced) and Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s). Additional scenes include:
This is a collection of bloopers, presented in 1.85:1 letterboxed (not 16x9 enhanced) and Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).
This is a single still listing cast and crew, that leads to additional stills providing filmographies for:
This is presented in 1.78:1 (16x9 enhanced) and Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (192Kb/s).
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;
I would rate both versions as substantially the same.
Two Weeks Notice is a romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock.
The video transfer is good.
The audio transfer is acceptable.
Extras include an audio commentary track, featurette, and deleted scenes.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Denon DVD-2900, using Component output |
| Display | Sony VPL-VW11HT LCD Projector, ScreenTechnics 16x9 matte white screen (254cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
| Amplification | Denon AVC-A1SE (upgraded) |
| Speakers | Front and surrounds: B&W CDM7NT, front centre: B&W CDMCNT, surround backs: B&W DM601S2, subwoofer: B&W ASW2500 |