Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

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!

First, the positives – Colin and Hugh are still hitting their marks. Even though he might not know why, Mark positively adores Bridget. Colin gets that and twinkles, melts and warms in all the right places. Same goes for Daniel– he's drawn to his Bridge for some inexplicable reason. Hugh Grant really ought to be looking for a patent for that mojo he works so well. All of the original actors are back as Bridget's parents and her "dating war command" of pals and all have a natural, easy chemistry that works. But, the negatives, they are a-plenty.

Biggest problem here was the complete tone change. In the first film, we were on the ride with Bridget...seeing things through her eyes, groaning as she put her foot in her mouth again and cheering for her to finally get it right. However, in this movie, it feels like someone stuck her up on a stage and spent 2 hours throwing pies and tomatoes at her cause it seemed real cool. She's not in on the joke here, she IS the joke. Her few extra pounds are no longer just a part of the package – they are the end-all of her worth as a person. It feels like the folks behind this film don't even LIKE the character – they just think it's real cool to humiliate her as often as possible. It doesn't even look like they bothered to send Renee to makeup or wardrobe – she (as Bridget) was pleasantly plump in the first film, but never dowdy. The character is downright frumpy in this movie with a perpetual case of bed head and clothes that look like castoffs from Mayberry. And Renee plays into it with her acting choices – Bridget was frazzled in the first movie but still retained her dignity most of the time. She's a perpetual victim in this one, though, and even though Renee is still cute as a button and incredibly endearing, some of Bridget's spark is gone.

What happens after the happy ending? Couple realizes that they are each real, flawed people. And the movie makes it seem like Mark is at that point – never tries to change Bridget, never gets angry and her constant mishaps amuse more than annoy. But, as each of Bridget's tantrums unfolded, I kept asking myself why in the WORLD the man was still there. Bridget's keen on him but doesn't trust him. She likes to be with him but is suspicious of his actions without any real cause. Now, we know she's an insecure character and feels like she's not classy enough to fit into his world. And if the movie built from that, maybe we'd have a different story. But the obstacles they face are external. The characters never make decisions on their own – something or someone else makes them feel a certain way or forces them into a course of action that decides what will happen next. And Bridget's reactions almost make it seem like somehow, over the course of the last 'six weeks', she's regressed to a girl in the schoolyard stomping her feet when her boyfriend does something she doesn't like.

Another problem – the utter lack of subtlety. Why include one fat joke when 3 or 4 plus a butt shot can fit into the scene? Why spend most of the movie dropping hints about a reveal when you can beat the audience over the head with it in one of the final scenes? Why have Daniel make one joke about stealing Mark's wife when he can drop another one 30 minutes later? Oh look, matching Christmas jumpers – how cute. Most of the funny in this movie comes from certain 'episodes' as opposed to the dialogue. I loved the ski trip and Bridget's 'magic mushrooms' in Thailand. But, when the characters are actually talking to each other, they just aren't that funny. Most of the jokes are reruns from the first movie that feel stale. The naughty jokes are kicked up a notch but everyone in my packed theater, including me, either grimaced or sat stone-faced through most of them. Note to filmmakers: dirty has to actually BE funny to be funny.

This feels like a movie about a woman made by men who think wet clothes, girl-on-girl action and butt close-ups get it done. I read some interviews that said that Renee would only do a second film if it took care of Bridget and held up the standards of the first. I almost wonder if someone slid her this script on the first day of shooting as a rewrite once she'd already signed on the dotted line. This felt like a bleached, harsher version of the first– the warmth is gone. I know there was a different director and I really don't think the new kid gets why Bridget was/is such a phenomenon. As much as I was looking forward to this film, I wish they'd never done it.

Oh, and also, as a P.S. – if I was a Thai woman right now, I'd be suing Working Title and Miramax for defamation of character for their version of 'Fun with Stereotypes'.

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.

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.......

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.