Romantic comedies can get away with breaking a lot of otherwise steadfast rules of storytelling, perhaps because the premise of the genre is so basic and human that we are biologically programmed not to tire of it. We wouldn't function very well as a species if we, as a race, ever tired of love (or food or beauty or laughter), and so a thoroughly unoriginal story about two people falling in love can still work, so long as we like the stars and get some true-to-life laughs out of it.

Two Weeks Notice is cut from the mold, but it's smarter and funnier than the usual exercise in the genre. Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant play the roles they have about as well as anybody, and they have enough chemistry together to keep us involved.

One thing I liked about the movie is that no effort was made to glamorize the characters. They endear us because they are human and fallible; in fact, the funniest scenes stem from exaggerating that very lack of glamorization.