Bridget Jones: L'âge de raison

The problem with a sequel is that expectations are high - particularly after a film as successful and engaging as BJ1. I knew already that the new film did not adhere to the second book so I didn't expect to be making comparisons. However, this movie was frankly ridiculous.

My problem with the film in main was that the character of Bridget was over-parodied. She is not supposed to be so much fatter than everyone around her, or as scatty and ungainly as she is portrayed in the film, which makes it harder to believe that there are 2 men and a woman after her.

The first film's success was due to the protagonist being charming and endearing - she made "human" mistakes (for example, the "blue soup") and fell for an unsuitable man who cheated on her. We felt sorry for her but also felt that she was funny and kooky and wanted her to "get her man" in the end. In this new movie she is frankly annoying, and we are almost incredulous that Mark Darcy should want her at all. They have nothing in common, the reason they break up at the beginning is not believable in any way, and the reasons they reunite are just as difficult to comprehend.

I also felt that the characterisations were not as layered as in the first movie, and the stupid lesbian twist didn't seem to make any sense.

It is a shame that they were so close yet so far with this new film, because in a way it negates the success and hilarity of the first one, which was a classic, intelligent portrayal of a 30-something singleton looking for her man. BJ2 is just a badly-made slapstick about a fat, unattractive girl who looks a complete mess and doesn't seem to have any self-awareness whatsoever. Sorry to be so harsh, but with the weight of the various names attached to the film, expectations were high.......

Sometimes sequels to a very good movie do not work as well, and this one unfortunately is one that does not work as well as its original. One person in our party watching this movie in fact called it "painful".

The original Bridget Jones Diary worked very well, at least in my opinion. It worked well not only because of a good story line, great casting and great acting, but the script and direction made the film also both witty and fun. In a sequel, often we are promised just part of that formula – the basic story line and a similar cast. Yes, this film does have a similar story line and a similar cast, but the script and the direction fall far short of the original. Hence instead of a witty fast paced fun movie where we laugh along with Bridget Jones, we have a slow moving non-funny movie that mostly seems to laugh at Bridget Jones and not with her.

The movie seems to lack the new elements that would make a sequel like this interesting. Instead it seems to fall back and simply exaggerate some of the elements of the first movie. It is "Over the Top" as one in Britain might say. Unfortunately this exaggeration tends to make things less funny and not funnier. In the first movie businessman Hugh Grant is mostly a businessman but is occasionally selfish and occasionally sexually selfish. In the second movie he spends less time as a businessman and more time just seeming out for himself. In the first movie, Bridget sometimes has low self-confidence. In the second movie, she almost always has low self-confidence. In the second movie, the Colin Firth character seems to try to be even more nerdy than in the first movie. In the first movie Bridget is plump. In the second movie, she is plumper. Now, I could afford to lose a few pound myself, but hopefully you get the idea. The second movie exaggerates the first trying for more laughs. But on the path it loses itself and is much less witty and funny.

Now, one cannot blame the actresses and actors for this. I felt that Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth did their usual great jobs. For that reason alone, this movie may be well worth watching for you. It was because of the actresses and actors that I wished to see it. To make the movie great, however, it needed a script and direction to match.

This movie is even more disappointing than the first one. It's not helping anyone by insulting a perfectly normal weighing woman, by continually saying she's fat. She says it and so does everyone else. Which doesn't help anyone's view of what an actual healthy weight is. I googled how much Bridget Jones supposedly weighs and 130 for the height of 5'5 is perfectly acceptable and within normal BMI ranges. This is just another Hollywood hot mess that promotes false realities. What's even more insulting is that any woman would allow themselves to be so self depreciating. No wonder many women have bad body image when Hollywood plainly says even though you weigh a perfectly acceptable weight within your BMI, you're still fat. What a way to create a bunch of effed up people and to continue to promote a completely unhealthy and unrealistic view of how the world should look.

BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON (2004) ** Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Jacinda Barrett, Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent. Zellweger reprises her role as the titular neurotic British journalist in a fairly charmless sequel picking up from her hook-up with the divinely prim Mark Darcy (Firth) and making a shambles of their relationship. The film fails in making its heroine go through one shamelessly awful slapstick induced comedy of errors eliciting very little humor that isn't particularly mean-spirited or ham-fisted no thanks to director Beeban Kidron who seems to relish in demeaning the bachelorette to no end.

And can we PLEASE have a moratorium on using Barry White's 'You're My First, My Last, My Everything' to underscore a character's actions!

Oh the expectations are high and the studio is bumping up the release date but what about the film? In the case of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, it was inevitable that the freshness and sheer pleasure of a funny, heartfelt love story of Bridget Jones's Diary, would be a hard act to top much less follow. While entertaining in its own way and filled with enough charm and wit to keep things moving and interesting, it is a step down for the Helen Fielding heroine. No Oscar nominations are forthcoming this time.

Not a couple months have passed as our favorite British journalist (played with gusto by Renee Zellweger) is dating her dream beau, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth returns as a noble steed). Slowly, our Bridget notices a young female clinging to her man on a regular basis, and with life full of its insecurities, doubts and suspicions are thus born. Enter handsome Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant is as dashing as ever) who wants to rekindle an earlier romance with Bridget who wonders if he has mended his philandering ways. That pretty well sums up the main storyline. There are a few other minor story threads such as Bridget's parents getting remarried, but they are few and far between.

Zellweger is always appealing even as an overweight, accident-prone romantic. Fans may be a bit startled to see her appearance after a few years of terrific performances in slimmed down roles. Firth, who was handpicked by author Fielding, duplicates his steady, straightlaced lawyer while Grant spices the sexual scenery with his bad boy ways. You will recognize returning supporting characters from before including James Broadbent as Bridget's dad, a role that is minimal at best.

While the screenplay has some nice bits of dialogue and one-liners, the whole thing just doesn't come together as a satisfying whole. There are no real surprises here in the story even though it contains a couple of mild shocks in plot line. The direction is not as crisp as before-this time Beeban Kidron(Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar) takes the helm in not quite inspired fashion. Where is original director, Sharon Maguire? Maybe frequent scribe Richard Curtis would have been perfect. Just one of his story lines in Love Actually is as good as or better than anything in Edge of Reason.

Perhaps the biggest problem with this film is that it is a chore to find anything truly engaging or to feel any sympathy and concern for Zellweger's character. In addition, there was an absence of really funny situations without seeming to be contrived. Maybe that's being picky, but that's the level of satisfaction Bridget Jones's original incarnation has engendered.