Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON (Beeban Kidron, 2004)

Renée Zellweger returns as the neurotic British thirtysomething in BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON. Colin Firth and Hugh Grant also reprise their roles as her suitors. The sequel picks up shortly after the conclusion of BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY. Bridget and Mark Darcy are a happy couple, although her insecurity strains her confidence. She suspects that Mark may be doing more than taking business meetings with his pretty colleague Rebecca, played by THE REAL WORLD: LONDON alum Jacinda Barrett.

The thrill of pursuing one’s beloved drives most romantic comedies. It isn’t an accident that these films usually conclude when the lovers are brought together. Whether the characters are starting to date or getting married at film’s end, they’ve fulfilled their search, leaving them and the audience satisfied. BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON’S foray into her post-“happily ever after” life then faces the problem of what to do now that the heroine has what she wants. Unfortunately, the solution in the sequel is to contrive a silly break-up and bang out an over the top, ham-fisted replay of the original. Bridget Jones’ appeal is that she’s a regular woman with pluck who triumphs over common embarrassments and indignities. How then do you explain Bridget in a Thai women’s prison singing Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”, one of the worst scenes in any movie this year. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY was a charming trifle. THE EDGE OF REASON is toxic swill. It’s one of the worst sequels to a good film.

Grade: D

(Review first aired on the November 23, 2004 NOW PLAYING)