| NEWS |
  
|
| FEATURES |
| ENTERTAINMENT |
  
|
| COLUMNS |
     |
| CONTACT US |
|
| HOW TO SUBMIT |
|
|
| BACK ISSUES |
|
|
For more movie summaries, see Kam's Kapsules.
photo caption:
|
"Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason": Reneé Zellweger Reprises Earlier Hit Role as Bridget Jones
Review by Kam Williams
Three years ago, Reneé Zellweger put on a few pounds and adopted a London accent for the title role in the film adaptation of the book Bridget Jones' Diary. The film was a resounding hit thanks to the endearing vulnerability she exhibited in the movie when playing the unmarried British woman character taken from the book.
The baby fat and English accent are back, however, the Bridget we get in this sequel is not nearly as charming as the lovable loser we were so fond of the first time around. She's still smoking, cursing, and watching her weight, but in some ways she's not all that recognizable.
No longer shy and retiring, Bridget has morphed into an international jet-setter who skis in the Alps, skydives, and travels to Thailand on assignment. However, for the sake of the sitcom, she manages to land in embarrassing situations.
Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), her ex-boss in the literary business, is now a fellow reporter at the same TV station. He still is chasing after her, which leads to awkward, unwanted advances.
The story starts out four weeks after the first movie ended, yet nothing feels familiar about the point of departure. We learn that Bridget's fairy tale love affair with dashing barrister Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), which marked the happily-ever-after ending of the original film, might already be in trouble.
She's jealously suspicious about his late night meetings with his attractive assistant Rebecca (Jacinda Barrett). Tension revolves around Bridget's fears that they are up to no good.
While we're wondering whether Mark will dump Bridget, we're treated to a string of disconnected skits. A few are funny, but most miss the mark. The best is the case of mistaken identity where Bridget bursts into a room at the Inns of Court, impulsively and mistakenly pronouncing her undying love to an astonished older gentleman whom she thought was her boyfriend. She immediately replaces her passionate declaration "I love you, I always have, and I always will," with the mean spirited, "I don't love you, I never have, and I never will."
Sprinkled with an array of stick figures, Bridget 2 never amounts to anything much, offering little character development and a lot of senseless, silly slapstick.
Good (2 stars).
R for sex and expletives. Running time: 106 minutes. Distributor:
Universal.
end of review.
For more movie summaries, see Kam's Kapsules.