One movie about an overweight, self-involved and obviously single British woman was enough. In fact, one novel was enough, because beyond those first humorous glimpses into the pathetic existence that is Bridget Jones’s life, author Helen Fielding took us down a road filled with unnecessary doubt stemming from the title character’s overwhelming neuroses. The result is a book and film that grates your last nerve down to a shrieking stub. So don’t waste your time on the latest installment, “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason” – that’s exactly where it will take you.
Renée Zellweger is back in the leading role, and in the three years since “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” her flabby chins have swelled in number. The new film starts off with Bridget six weeks into her relationship with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), and, realizing that she’s less attractive than Darcy’s colleagues and their girlfriends or wives, she starts to wonder if her man is having an affair. This suspicion is only enhanced with the introduction of Darcy’s beautiful colleague, Rebecca (Jacinda Barrett). The hopeless thirty-something’s compulsion and disbelief that anything good could happen to her drive Bridget, among other things, to spying on Darcy at his home and eventually dumping him over a small disagreement.
Enter suave ladies’ man Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), formerly Bridget’s boss at a publishing firm. The seductive playboy has been hired at the same television network as Bridget, and the two are forced to work side by side on a travel show filmed in Thailand. Cleaver tries to bed his co-host, but their romance eventually fizzles when a Thai prostitute turns up in Cleaver’s hotel suite. Bridget predictably opts out of a ménage a trois and gets involved with a drug trafficker, a mistake that lands her in a glorified Thai prison. Apparently these aren’t the Thai prisoners from “Brokedown Palace” – instead we’re treated to even worse torture, a bad a cappella version of “Like a Virgin” from Bridget’s fellow Thai inmates.
Eventually it’s Darcy who comes to the rescue, tracking across multiple continents to exonerate the girl who dumped him. Darcy then takes on Cleaver in a fight sequence paralleling the first, but this one’s choreography was lifted from the Miller Lite Catfight girls – yes, ladies, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant get wet and nasty in a public fountain. And yes, Grant’s Cleaver once again gets in the final pithy jab.
There’s lots of shagging involved in Bridget’s predictably ill-timed comments, such as her open admiration of Darcy’s bottom while unknowingly on speakerphone with international leaders.
And it’s the predictability that kills screenwriter Andrew Davies’ attempts at humor – he dishes outs the same setups and punch lines we saw over and over again in the first film.
Unfortunately, though, the cinematography isn’t even as good in this second installment; director Beeban Kidron’s shots are too formulaic and contrived, but what could you expect from the person who brought you “To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar.”
“Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason” might not be such a bad film if you go in expect just that – a bad film. In fact, it might just be the perfect way to spend your time downing butter-coated popcorn and fat-laden Reese’s Pieces – you could just bloat out like a singleton yourself.
Joe Rosemeyer can be reached at [email protected].
In the latest installment, Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) discovers that relationships aren´t easy, even if they are with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). (Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures)
