Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason DVD Review:

Another year, another diary for Bridget Jones (Zellweger) but this year is different because she is starting the year with a boyfriend. After six weeks of bliss and over seventy shags, Bridget is happier than she has ever been and is dreaming of being married to her wonderful Mark Darcy (Firth). But things have a habit of going wrong for Bridget and it looks like this year is going to be no different.

Bridget Jones’s first diary was an incredible success but can her next year of entries be as good? Definitely not.

Based on Helen Fielding’s second novel, The Edge of Reason is a sequel that sadly fails to live up expectations. We join Bridget six weeks after the end of the first movie at the start of the next year and her new diary. She is still with Mark Darcy and is blissfully happy but things are about to change when rumours and her friend’s opinions lead her to question Mark’s friendship with his colleague Rebecca and her relationship. After a fight, they split up and that is when she runs into her ex, Daniel Cleaver. Now what does Bridget do? Does she give into temptation and be with Daniel or does she fight for her relationship with Mark? That is the simple premise that the filmmakers try and squeeze 108 minutes worth of entertainment out of but that is the film’s major problem.

The first movie was a film that was made to appeal to women but there was enough gags and vulgarity to appeal to the disgruntled boyfriend/husband who was dragged along to see it. It was a good date flick that would entertain both the sexes but this is sadly lacking from the sequel. The Edge of Reason is an extremely girly movie that the men in the audience will find a chore to sit through. Filled with sentimentally, surrounded by farcical and implausible subplots and then coated in enough sugar to make your teeth instantly fall out, the movie that lost the key ingredient that made it so delightful in the first place, its connectivity.

Both men and women could connect with Bridget, relating easily to her trails and tribulations as most of us would have been through at least one but the sequel seems to have forgotten about that. Now we find Bridget mixing with high society, having a ridiculous adventure in Thailand and inadvertently winning a skiing medal. By replacing a heartbeat of realism with a farcical pacemaker, the sequel is just not as personal and now not as funny. Bridget’s mishaps are now too implausible and outrageous to be real making this feel even more like a movie than an insight into an ordinary person’s life and because of this the characters and the movie loses most of its appeal.

These faults really let down the returning cast but they do try and do their best with the pittance they are given. Renée Zellweger again puts on her best British accent and quite a few pounds to play our heroine. This is a role that she really excels in, showing excellent comedic talent and her skills as a character actress. She is the driving force behind the movie that the real reason why the second film is watchable at all. Hugh Grant is at his caddish best as Daniel Cleaver. This is a role made for Hugh and is one of the few times he really gets to escape his usual, floppy haired English rom-com leading man that made his name and play some who is really quite a sh*t. The problem is that he doesn’t have enough screen time but he does grab your attention whenever he does appear. Colin Firth also returns at Mark Darcy but the filmmakers have made a major mistake with him, they have made him not very nice. It is hard to understand why Bridget would ever fall for him, as he raises his voice to her all the time when they are going through a bad patch and he most of the time he looks embraced to be around her. This is not the fault of Firth, who is a good romantic comedy actor but even by the end you can’t help but think that Bridget shouldn’t be going out with him.

The rest of the cast are merely the supporting players with very limited screen time. Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent hardly get a chance to make their presence felt as Bridget’s parents. Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson and James Callis as Shazza, Jude and Tom, Bridget’s best friends, hardly get a look in and only seem to interfere. The same can be said about Neil Pearson as Bridget’s boss Richard Finch.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is a huge disappointment. The movie feels more like a commercial enterprise than a continuation of Bridget’s diary. Filled with product placements and an extremely annoying soundtrack that contains so many songs that the some scenes might have snippets from up to three different artists, it feels like you are watching an overlong advert and not a romantic comedy. This is a movie made solely for the female demographic meaning that it has instantly alienated half of its audience. Men will now find it a chore to watch, even finding it hard to stomach just to get in their wife’s/girlfriend’s good books. The sad thing is however that fans of the first movie will be bitterly disappointed as only the actors save this from been a complete bomb.

I expect a lot of lengthy diary entries about how disappointing this movie is.

Star Rating = * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack, this is an excellent transfer. Bridget’s Britain and Thailand are vividly brought to life with exuberant colours throughout. The sound quality is also good, with a strong emphasis on dialogue, which you need with a comedy.

BONUS FEATURES

Daniel Cleaver

A smooth guide to exotic Thailand (4.27 mins)

Director Beeban Kidron, producer Eric Fellner, production designer Gemma Jackson, location manager David Broder and star Hugh Grant take you behind the scenes of Daniel Cleaver’s trip to Thailand. We see the location shoots in Bangkok and the floating village, as well as the exotic islands of the west coast.

The Big Fight (4.54 mins)

Director Beeban Kidron, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth take you behind the scenes of the second fight between Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy. In separate interviews, the two stars take the mickey out of each other’s fighting style and the director reveals how they wanted them to fight in a namby-pamby way that would produce the most laughs.

Who’s your man? Quiz

An interactive questionnaire for the ladies that will tell them which type of man they will end up with, the Daniel Cleaver type or the Mark Darcy type.

Bridget Jones

Feature Commentary with Director Beeban Kidron

This informative and pleasant commentary track covers most aspects of the film. The director discusses the differences between the film and the novel, highlighting the main changes, the additions and the deletions. She also reveals when scenes where deleted and the reasons for these changes. She also chats about the mini-break and Thailand location shoots and the cast and crew involved in the sequel. This is a good commentary from a director who clearly enjoyed making the movie. It is just a shame that none of the stars joined her.

The Mini-Break to Austria (3.58 mins)

Director Beeban Kidron, producer Jonathan Cavendish, ski unit manager Brian Hall and stars Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth take you behind the scenes of the shoot in Lech, Austria. The featurette showcased Renée Zellweger doing her own ski stunts.

Deleted Scenes (13.04 mins)

Entitled ‘Fox Hunting’, ‘The Christening’, ‘Renar Cinema’ and ‘Baby fantasies’, each of these four deleted scenes have introduction by director Beeban Kidron, who explains why they didn’t meet the final cut.

Mark Darcy

Mark and Bridget forever? (5.25 mins)

Director Beeban Kidron, Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Jacinda Barrett talk about the highs and lows of Bridget and Mark’s relationship and if it will last.

Bridget Jones interviews Colin Firth (4.57 mins)

Introduced by director Beeban Kidron, Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth do a special scene that was featured in the original book, where Bridget Jones interview Colin Firth for Sit Up Britain. This is Bridget at her best as she constantly asks him questions about Pride and Prejudice. It is a shame that it never made it into the film.

Lonely London (3.10 mins)

Director Beeban Kidron and visual effects producer Alex Hope take you through the process of producing a CG version of London for the movie,

Trailers

Previews of Wimbledon, Meet the Fockers and Billy Elliot: The Musical

OVERALL

Universal and Working Title have done a decent job with the DVD transfer of the second Bridget Jones movie. The deleted scenes and commentary track are very good but the highlight has to be the Bridget Jones/Colin Firth interview, which is a real treat for fans. This is a good package that will bring some extra enjoyment to all those Bridget Jones’ out there.

DVD Star Rating = * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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