Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Movie Review:


There's deliriously funny comedy and marvellous performances within this sequel, but the filmmakers seem to have missed the point of the first film's success completely, concentrating on all the unlikeable elements, leaving us annoyed and apathetic in the process.

TV journalist Bridget (Zellweger) is happy with gorgeous lawyer boyfriend Mark (Firth), but her insecurities make every day a drama of embarrassment and desperation. And it gets worse when Mark starts spending rather a lot of time with a lovely colleague (Barrett). Then Bridget's ex (Grant) reappears, and she has to go off to Thailand with him for work, where things quickly get even worse for our heroine.

Bridget's deep-seated insecurity is still the centre of the story, but while the first film used it to make her endearingly gawky, this one merely uses to embarrass her; she's pathologically tactless, clumsy and obsessive. It's a fundamental sequel mistake, emphasising the wrong side of the main character's personality. And even her physicality is inappropriate--Bridget looked full-figured yet lovely in the first film, but here she's lumpy and awkward. It's impossible for us to like her now, and we don't believe Mark's undying love.

That said, Zellweger plays Bridget with flashes of spark and wit that keep us smiling. Firth is charming and intriguing, Grant has all the funniest lines, and the best sequence belongs to them both: the rematch bout! Phillips' is hilarious as Bridget's best pal, and gets more to do this time, travelling to Thailand with Bridget for adventures of her own. Although this segment devolves into one of the most appalling sequences in cinema all year (it involves a Thai prison and a Madonna song).

Basically the filmmakers lost touch with the real world that made the original film so enjoyable. The strong song score alternates between witty and obvious. The diary framework is only used sporadically. And what's left are mere glimpses of sharp insight, clever writing and astute acting. There's just no way the filmmakers can sell the emotional conclusion after making their central character a slapstick laughing stock.



Rich Cline

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 relationship 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 and 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 movie 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 use 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 farcical pacemaker, the sequel is just not as personal and now not as funny. Bridget’s mishaps are now too implausible and outrageous to feel 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 out 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. 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, that 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 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.

Jamie Kelwick

What is it that attracts us to the world of Bridget Jones? Is it the humor? Maybe it’s her love life? Or maybe we just see ourselves in many faucets of her life.

The delightful 2001 comedy “Bridget Jones’s Diary” became a phenomenon as people fell in love with Renee Zellweger as Bridget and it earned an Oscar nomination for Renee Zellweger who plays Bridget Jones, the bubbly British television journalist.

Now in the sequel we find Bridget in utter bliss as she continues her relationship with her dream man, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). But as the relationship continues we find that things aren’t as rosy as they seem. Mark is non-committal and Bridget seriously doubts their future especially when Mark starts spending a lot of time with his 22-year old secretary Stephanie (Jacinda Barrett).

Eventually bliss subsides to a rupture and Bridget becomes single again and an absolute mess. This seems to be the perfect time for ex-lover Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) to sweep in and take another stab at landing Bridget.

So will Bridget ever repair things with Mark Darcy? What does a Thai prison have to do with it? Furthermore, does Mark actually love Bridget?

The sequel to the 2001 smash comes off as one of those sequels you would imagine if you thought what happened after the princess and prince walked off into the sunset and lived happily ever after. You know Snow White got pregnant and they had kids but then she catches Charming sleeping with some other Beauty. Or something in that regards, right?

The point is that do we really care what happens after “happily ever after” when we know in real life it isn’t always rosy. In Bridget’s case we do, well some what.

Zellweger is once again infectious and perfect in her Bridget persona but the film doesn’t support her especially through the very slow Thai prison, middle portion.

The film itself feels a lot like a doughnut. We have all this glorious sweetness with great scenes between Zellweger and Firth, the sissy fight and some other great moments but in the centre you have this bottomless vortex that seems so out of place.

In the novel, I would hope that the whole Thai prison is more dramatic and it evolves Bridget’s longing for Mark but here it seems to be forced. How can something as devastating as that be light-hearted? Because the screenwriters and the director weren’t bold enough or risky enough, we find that this is an inferior sequel.

I loved all the cast and even some of the delightful “ooey-gooey” bits in the front and back halves but felt this diary entry in the world of Bridget Jones wasn’t worthy of the performances or the cast.

So Says the Soothsayer

Dean Kish

 

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