Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (R, 2004)

In the first movie, Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) learned that she could be loved just as she was. Now she has to figure out whether she can love herself. As the sequel begins, she has had six blissful weeks with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), the man of her dreams. But happily ever after does not work for movies, so something has to go wrong. Bridget's insecurities lead her to break up with Mark just as all-but-irresistible bad boy Daniel (Hugh Grant) lands a job on her television news program. When they are assigned to work together on a travel piece about Thailand, Daniel expresses an interest in Bridget and her giant panties. Bridget will have to choose between two men and two notions of herself. And along the way she will do all the Bridget things we love to see, mostly meaning making a fool of herself by squeezing into a too-tight dress, speaking out at the wrong time, or managing to give the camera a close-up of her rear end.

BRIDGET JONES: BEYOND THE EDGE OF REASON is pretty much the same movie as the first, but both the heroine and her story have lost a good deal of their charm. What we loved about Bridget was the spirited way she took on the world. She may have been awkward, but she had so much heart that we, like Mark, loved her just the way she was. Not so much anymore, no matter how much we want to. She comes across as not just graceless but thoughtless and careless.

The incidents in the film are just repetitions of the first (discussions of large panties, ugly Christmas sweaters, completely inept Mark/Daniel fight scene) or outlandish variations that fall a little flat. In one case, Bridget is imprisoned in a Thai jail. There is simply no way to handle a scene like this in a romantic comedy, and the efforts to make Bridget's prison experience charming by having her loan out her Wonderbra and teach her cellmates Madonna songs are a little creepy. Still, Firth, Grant, and Zellweger are always fun to watch, the script has some funny moments, and it's always fun to see Bridget find a way to a happy ending.

Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Beeban Kidron
Cast: Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Renee Zellweger
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 108 minutes
Theatrical release: November 11, 2004
DVD release: March 22, 2005
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: language and some sexual content