Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason shares with its predecessor the number one thing that made the first film so endearing: Renee Zelweger as Bridget Jones. Watching this movie, I realized that wouldn't mind seeing a Thin Man type series of Bridget movies, each one featuring the indominatatble protagonsit as she encounters another major life stage- marridge, children, perhaps struggling for tickets to see a Madonna concert.
And for the first forty five minuets or so, this movie appears to be on the brink of being the rare sequel that's as good as its predeccesor. Picking up six weeks after the last film left off, this one finds Bridget in seeming bliss with her new boyfriend, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). But Bridget's paranoia is begings to take over and she tends to see problems when they aren't there. Then it seems that there's a problem that is real- Mark is apparently having a too close for comfort "friendship" with fellow lawyer Rebecca Gilles (Jacinda Barrett). But then the movie starts going on some odd and rather implausible tangents, including one that's stunningly bizzare and tantamount to racist (I won't reavel the surprise here).
The first movie and the beginnig of this one were endearing light comedy. The film, which could have essentially been a drama, was played slightly exagerated for laughs and always had a degree of plausablity. But this film is misguided in its attempt to please the audience. (Moderate spoilers ahead). I think that the director, Beeban Kidrom, and her four screenwriters (one of which was Helen Fielding, adapting her own novel) must have figured that bigger was better. If the first movie contained a scene where Bridget exposes herself while sliding a fire pole that was funny, then her doing the same thing in this one while skydiving must been even funnier, right?
The movie also thinks that we want a rehash of the first one, so we get a return visit from Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), a jerk who tempts Bridget to return to him. The problem is that we have must less sympathy for her this time. What's that quote? "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me?" Besides, every human being in the audince who has ever seen a romantic comedy knows how this movie is going to end, so we kind of wish that the movie wouldn't waste time with absurd (in a negative sense) sidetracks and get us there sooner, or maybe risk trying something unique.
For the most part, this is not a boring movie, and at times it is quite funny, particularly in the first third. But the satisfaction that came with the first movie was not there. I would not mind seeing a third Bridget Jones movie, but she to exist in a semi-plausable world where I can care what happens to her.
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)