Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
November 19, 2004
Universal/ Miramax
Comedy, Drama, Romance
DVD
C

The faults of Bridget Jones 1-- notably the manipulative soundtrack and directing choices-- are even stronger here in the three-years-later-made but set-the-following-year sequel.  (And Bridget is now born in '72, which makes her a year younger than last time.)  Renée Zellweger as Jones is back, as are her two men, Colin Firth as Mark Darcy and Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver.  And so are a whole bunch of mostly under-used perfomers, among them Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones as Bridget's parents; James Callis, Shirley Henderson, and Sally Phillips as Bridget's friends; James Faulkner and Celia Imrie as Geoffrey and Una Alconbury; Neil Pearson as Richard Finch (Bridget's boss at Sit Up, Britain); Donald Douglas as Admiral (formerly just Mr.) Darcy; and Dominic McHale as Bernard.  I was pleased that Phillips as Shazzer (looking quite fetching, especially in a Beatles cap) has more to do this time, but at that, even she disappears for chunks of the movie at a time.

What we're left with is a mix of unfunny slapstick and uneven drama.  Although the film is ostensibly (and Austensibly, this time influenced by Persuasion) about what happens after Happily Ever After, it's never really that convincing that Bridget and Mark are happy together.  So it's hard to care when they have a pregnancy scare or break up.  And when Daniel returns, it seems she may as well get off (and go off) with him instead.  I almost went with a C- on this, but I don't think it's bad, just disappointing.  And at that, it's sort of nice to see everyone again, although I wish they'd been given more to work with.  (I've read but don't own the book this is based on, although at the time of my reading blog I thought I did.)

Ray Donn was a Limo Driver in Bride & Prejudice, is a customer here, and would be a Policeman in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Campbell Graham returns as Hamish and would be a Ministry Wizard in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,  while Sam Beazley is Very Old Man here and would be Everard in Order of the Phoenix, and Jessica Stevenson is Magda here and would be the voice of Mafalda Hopkirk in Phoenix.  Tom Brooke, who plays a Production Assistant, would be Thick Kevin in Pirate Radio.