Two Weeks with Love Blu-ray Review: I’ve Had the Time of My Life

A naive 17-year-old girl spends summer vacation in the Catskills with her family, where she falls under the spell of a suave older man with sexy dance moves. No, it’s not Dirty Dancing, but Two Weeks with Love sure feels awfully familiar as its spiritual forebear. Perky Jane Powell leads the cast as Baby…I mean Patti Robinson, coming of age just as she encounters 30-year-old Cuban gentleman Demi Armendez (Ricardo Montalban), a fellow guest at the Catskills resort.

The story follows Patti’s sometimes comical struggles to shed her childhood and gain recognition as a woman. The defining factor seems to be fashion-related most of the time, such as when she goes to the lake in a frumpy “potato sack” swimsuit and quickly buries herself in the sand to avoid being seen by Demi. She dreams of owning a corset so she can achieve an hourglass figure, and hates the frilly dresses her domineering mother still makes her wear. Of course she gets her wish by the end, emerging for the last dance in a slinky black ballgown that changes Demi’s perception of her so quickly he practically has cartoon wolf eyes. That’s actually toned down, as we’re earlier treated to a grand reveal staged as a dream sequence, likely because it’s even more shocking than Olivia Newton-John’s black bodysuit and leather in Grease, with Patti performing a musical number with Demi in a tiny corseted pink showgirl costume so form-fitting it is absolutely jaw-dropping in its audacity.

The setup between an innocent teen girl and a clearly much older man is obviously creepy, but its ick factor is somewhat mitigated by Demi’s oblivious approach to Patti until the final act. He views her as just a kid he’s befriending, even as he’s showing off his moves with her on the resort dance floor and planting a chaste kiss on her cheek because “that’s what friends do.” She couldn’t ask for a more respectful paramour, although her conservative parents disapprove of his attention, he has no clue of her affection, and she pines for much more.

The cast gets a big assist from teen Debbie Reynolds in one of her earliest roles, here playing Patti’s equally boy-crazy younger sister who also finds love at the resort, albeit with an age-appropriate suitor. She gets to show off in a couple of charming musical numbers, one of which became a pop sensation, but her young age and long brown hair make her look so similar to daughter Carrie Fisher in her Star Wars debut that it’s hard to focus on her performance. She’s a great match as Powell’s sister, with both being so preternaturally peppy and playful with each other that they truly seem like family.

The musical numbers were all staged by Busby Berkeley, and while they’re not the elaborate productions one normally equates with him (aside from the lush dream sequence), they still bring a tinge more glamour to the Catskills than one would expect. Montalban and Powell sizzle in their dance performances, while director Roy Rowland keeps the charming tale on track to its obvious conclusion.

The film is formatted in its original 1.37:1 aspect ratio and features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound for the Blu-ray release. Colors are slightly muted, but the print is clean and sound is mostly hiss-free. Special features include an archival interview with Powell, a couple of live-action shorts, and a Tex Avery cartoon.