Movie Review: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

A few years back, there was a controversy over the casting of Renee Zellweger, an American, as Bridget Jones, who is English. There was fear that she would not be able to carry the proper accent. There was also the issue of Renee gaining the weight necessary to play the chubby Jones. Well, here we are a few years later, and everyone was waiting for Renee to reprise her role as Bridget in an adaptation of the second novel from Helen Fielding.

Well the film has arrived, and, sadly, it doesn't measure up to the original film. This one just comes off as too broad, losing it's focus, and, while funny at points, was generally disappointing. The globe hoping is a bit much, and the film loses focus on Bridget and instead focuses on the plot. This film focuses more on the story, where the weight of it should be placed squarely on the shoulders of it's characters, let them carry the story. Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth have the ability to create interesting characters that audiences can latch on to, but the distractions of plot almost outweigh the film.

It is not entirely awful, more disappointing. It never falls to the depths of, say, Birth or Christmas with the Kranks. It rather just seems to be content with mediocrity, hoping the charms of the actors will carry it. Again, that may have been OK, had the characters been given something more interesting to do, rather than be mired down in moving forward a plot. Well enough about that, shall we actually take a peek at the plot anchoring our actors?

This time we start with a slightly better adjusted Bridget than in the first, she is in a happy relationship, but then the thought that Mark Darcy(Firth) may be cheating is placed in her head, and who is there waiting for her? Why Daniel Cleaver(Grant) of course! The plot leads them to Thailand, where some plot groans end up with Bridget in jail. There is a lot more going on, but I can't say it was terribly interesting.

Grant and Firth do what they can as two points of the romantic triangle, but there is not much they can do as there is too much plot in the way. The filmmakers behind this would do well to take a peek at what was done with Ocean's 12, where they were able to write interesting dialogue, that didn't get too bogged down in plot. It seems as if this time around with Bridget, they tried to make the story too big in scale and the ended up losing focus on what the audience really cares about.

I can't quite put my finger on the whole thing, but it just didn't connect with me. The first one had a wonderful charm about it and the story was on a more personal level, than this. This time out, it just played to broad and big losing that personal touch. It still had some funny moments from many cast members, but there wasn't enough to really make it a good film.

Bottomline. Moderately entertaining, not enough to recommend, but you could do worse. Decent performances kept from sinking itself. It just doesn't have that certain quality to raise it above the rest. Would make a decent rental.

Not Recommended.