Two Weeks' Notice

The charismatic "public face" of the Wade Corporation, one of New York's leading real estate development firms, George hires attractive female attorneys with dubious credentials and sleeps with them...until they make a costly mistake and get fired by his stodgy brother Howard (David Haig), the brains behind the business.

When Howard demands he either hires an Ivy League lawyer or kisses his stock options goodbye, George turns confrontation with environmentalist advocate Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) into a spontaneous job interview.

A brilliant Harvard-educated attorney with a strategic mind and a social conscience, Lucy has no interest in serving the Wade Corporation's agenda.

But when George promises not to demolish her community centre, and offers to put her in charge of distributing Wade Corp's funds to charitable causes of her choice, she reluctantly takes the job.

As the months pass, Lucy establishes an impeccable track record, despite countless sleepless nights and the ulcer she's developed.

It's not the job that's getting to her. It's George. Fabulously irresponsible and undeniably self-absorbed, he treats her more like a personal assistant. After months of advising him on everything from his tennis game to his divorce settlements, an exasperated Lucy gives george her two weeks' notice.

But George stubbornly refuses to release Lucy from her iron-clad contract and makes it impossible for anyone else to hire her. He finally agrees to let her leave provided Lucy finds her own ultra-capable replacement.

Enter June Carter (Alicia Witt), an ambitious young lawyer with little experience but a keen eye for George.

Unlike her predecessor, June is an opportunist who makes George feel good about his wealth, power and superficiality. She is unfazed when Howard reneges on George's commitment to protect Lucy's community centre. And she doesn't consider dating the boss to be a conflict of interest.

Meanwhile, Lucy unhappily considers life after George. When she sees June step into her shoes, she realises her true feelings for him cross the line from the professional to the personal.

"Lucy's whole world is about accommodating George," says Bullock, who also produced Two Weeks' Notice. "She's allowed his life to become her priority so she doesn't have to deal with her own. George knows this and he abuses the privilege. When Lucy realises she's enabled him to take advantage one too many times, she finally has to address the real question: Why does she allow him to do it?"

Director Marc Lawrence wrote the screenplay for Two Weeks' Notice, which struck a chord with both stars.

"I love the dynamic Marc created between Lucy Kelson and George Wade," says Bullock."They drive each other crazy but you want to see them make it work, even though it seems virtually impossible. Ultimately, Lucy and George have to ask themselves Is it too late to tell the other person I love them?' And how do you take that kind of risk when you're not sure how the other person feels?"

"I sent the script to my closest friends in London and said Am I drunk or on drugs, or is this really as funny as I think?' And they sent it back saying Yes, it really is,'" recalls Grant. "Marc combines very sharp wit with quite a lot of humanity.

"I was always keen to do one of his scripts, and what particularly appealed to me about this project was the idea of two people who have this intensely intimate relationship, but they're totally unaware that they're in love until it's almost too late."

February 6, 2003 12:00