November 15, 2004
Bridget Jones is back. But the overweight, thirtysomething singleton isn't single anymore. Six weeks on from 2001's runaway success Bridget Jones' Diary, Bridget is still basking in the rosy glow of her romance with childhood-friend-and-handsome-if-uptight-lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Well, you just know that can't last. And soon Bridget's insecurities are at it again. Social mishaps, gaffes and major misunderstandings are about to burst Bridget's bubble. And when she suspects that Mark's interest in sexy legal assistant Rebecca (Jacinda Barrett) isn't just professional it all goes pop. Suddenly charmer and cad Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) doesn't seem so bad after all.
But it's not just Bridget that's back – so too are her crazy mates, her embarrassing family, those pants and another iconic Firth-on-Grant fightfest, with two wet shirt moments for the price of one. Firth smoulders, Grant shines and oozes as only he can and Zellweger gives the comedy and the sad bits all she's got. And there are even more effwords and shag-jokes than last time, if that's possible. So same old Bridget, same old fun? Not by a long chalk. Edge of Reason has the same writers as Diary - creator Helen Fielding, Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies plus one more for luck – but as a movie it just doesn't have the same comic edge . It certainly has its moments, pinning down male and female foibles with some pretty acute one-liners. But they are few and far between. Mainly it's left to Bridget's increasingly strained faux-pas and face-pulling and one-too-many f**k me's to jolt the laughs out of the audience. Plus some globe-trotting around the ski slopes of Austria and the beaches and prisons of Thailand.
To be fair, Edge of Reason is deliberately treading more serious water than Diary. Bridget's insecurities in the first movie were about getting her man – in Edge it's about keeping it all going, a far more troublesome task. So be prepared for tears as well as laughter. Not necessarily in that order. You've got to hand it to Zellweger though – there aren't many actresses brave or able enough to throw themselves into pigsties, pants and pratfalls for her art. Maybe being pursued by Hugh Grant and Colin Firth is reward enough for some women?
Edge of Reason isn't as funny or caustic as Diary and director Beeban Kidron ( Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit) drives things home a bit too heavily and a tad too slowly. And Hugh Grant doesn't get as much screen time as some might want. But with Zellwegger, Firth and Grant it can't really fail and Edge has its share of comic and poignant scenes. It's not memorable, but then Bridget Jones is already a legend.
But it's not just Bridget that's back – so too are her crazy mates, her embarrassing family, those pants and another iconic Firth-on-Grant fightfest, with two wet shirt moments for the price of one. Firth smoulders, Grant shines and oozes as only he can and Zellweger gives the comedy and the sad bits all she's got. And there are even more effwords and shag-jokes than last time, if that's possible. So same old Bridget, same old fun? Not by a long chalk. Edge of Reason has the same writers as Diary - creator Helen Fielding, Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies plus one more for luck – but as a movie it just doesn't have the same comic edge . It certainly has its moments, pinning down male and female foibles with some pretty acute one-liners. But they are few and far between. Mainly it's left to Bridget's increasingly strained faux-pas and face-pulling and one-too-many f**k me's to jolt the laughs out of the audience. Plus some globe-trotting around the ski slopes of Austria and the beaches and prisons of Thailand.
To be fair, Edge of Reason is deliberately treading more serious water than Diary. Bridget's insecurities in the first movie were about getting her man – in Edge it's about keeping it all going, a far more troublesome task. So be prepared for tears as well as laughter. Not necessarily in that order. You've got to hand it to Zellweger though – there aren't many actresses brave or able enough to throw themselves into pigsties, pants and pratfalls for her art. Maybe being pursued by Hugh Grant and Colin Firth is reward enough for some women?
Edge of Reason isn't as funny or caustic as Diary and director Beeban Kidron ( Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit) drives things home a bit too heavily and a tad too slowly. And Hugh Grant doesn't get as much screen time as some might want. But with Zellwegger, Firth and Grant it can't really fail and Edge has its share of comic and poignant scenes. It's not memorable, but then Bridget Jones is already a legend.