I've been widely anticipating (with great eagerness) this second coming of one of my favorite movies: Bridget Jones' Diary. I had read the second book and had found it quite amusing (ok, hilarious), so I jumped at the opportunity to go see an advanced screening of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, followed by a personal appearance by Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant. How could I pass this up?


Following are a few of the stats:

Directed by Beeban Kidron.

Written by Helen Fielding and Andrew Davies.

Genre: comedy/drama/romance

Rating: R for sexual language (oh please).

Tagline: "The perfect boyfriend. The perfect life. What could posssibly go wrong?"

Main Cast:
Renee Zellweger..........Bridget Jones
Jacinda Barret...........Rebecca
Jim Broadbent............Colin Jones/aka Bridget's father
Colin Firth..............Mark Darcy/aka the man who makes
me drool
Hugh Grant...............Daniel Cleaver/aka the man who
makes most women drool
Shirley Henderson........Jude/aka part of Bridget-pack
Gemma Jones..............Pam Jones/aka Bridget's mother
Sally Phillips...........Shazza/aka part of Bridget-pack
James Callis.............Tom/aka part of Bridget-pack


Main Plot:

We return to Bridget just a few weeks later than where we left her in the first movie. She has been dating Mark Darcy (ooohhh, the Colin Firth guy, ooohhh, too busy drooling, Pride and Prejudice, huuummmmmm) and is still reporting silly stories. We imagine that she is happy, but in fact she still is not (typical woman that she is).

She has tons of "crise", mostly "de jalousie" (trying to sound educated and intelligent, sorry, it means she's just throwing a few hissy-fits 'cause she's jealous), because there is this new, beautiful, intelligent woman (played by Jacinda Barrett) working with the oh-so-perfect Mr. Darcy and she is afraid that they are having an affair. In the mean time, she Bridget is her usual plumpish, sometimes inappropriate self -- in short, she's far from perfect.

Jones' self-doubt attacks severely start to hinder her relationship with Mark until they finaly break it off. And just as things couldn't be getting any worse, Jones' former womanizing boss, Daniel Cleaver (the funny but a bit irritating, and definately not as cute as most woman find him, Hugh Grant), starts working at the same television channel. Things take a bad turn when Bridget and Daniel are sent on a reporting mission in Thailand together.

During this very important reporting mission in Thailand, Daniel starts putting the moves on Bridget, saying that he is a changed man and has entered "sex therapy." Will Bridget be reseduced by the fowl Mr. Daniel Cleaver? Is he really a changed man? These things, I am afraid, I cannot tell you.

But worse things happen to Ms. Jones in Thailand: she gets arrested at the airport before leaving because she is in posession of drugs (which are not hers, obviously). She spends many, many days in a Thailand jail until someone comes to rescue her. Clueless as to who it is? Well, if you really are, stop reading this review right away and go to bed, as it is way past your bedtime already. But the ultimate question is, who does she end up with (there are three geniune possibilities here): 1)Daniel Cleaver/Hugh Grant, 2)Mark Darcy/Colin Firth, 3)Rebecca/Jacinda Barrett? Of course, I've forgotten the return of the Bridget-pack, which are her three constant friends and supporters, and who are once again in the movie, making sure that there is much time spent on complaining.


My Humble Thoughts:

Of course, Renee Zellwegger gives a flawless performance as usual, but one thing that I found quite different and upsetting in this sequal was the fact that her look and faults were as endearing as they were in the first movie. Remember how she was slightly plump, but attractive nonetheless, and how her faults were cute and we could relate? Well, it is not so in this movie, I can't quite figure out why, but she is made to look...well, not ugly...but certainly not cute at all. And her faults become a bit tiresome and annoying, which is a shame.

Another fault of this movie is that (even though he is not as cute as Colin Firth) Hugh Grant is not present enough, which is a shame since he's what usually makes a movie funny.

Side note: if you are wondering where you have heard the name Jacinda Barrett or if you have already seen or are planning to see the movie and recognize the girl playing Rebecca -- as I have been trying to remember where I have seen her before ever since, as she looked rather familiar -- I found out that she was actually a character on one of MTV's first of the television series called Real World. It was the series held in London, if my memory proves right, and she was an Australian model. She wasn't so bad in this movie, I hope to see her again soon in something else, as this was quite a small part.

The worst part of the movie was the plot. It was the plot of a sequal, which is not too flattering I believe. Yes, indeed, and sadly so, the plot was lacking in the most important thing: a storyline. The one they used seemed much too forced and stretched from reality, that it ruined quite bit from the first.

But on the positive side, this movie is quite worth seeing, just for the simple fact that there are a ton of hearty, hearty laughs to be had, and I would most definately go back and see it with a bunch of girlfriends. After all, isn't that the point of movies -- to make one escape? And the point of comedies -- to make one laugh? So as such, it has succeeded in doing so, and I strongly recommend a viewing, even for those skeptic men out there.


Unnecessary Star Commentary:

As I was at an Academy Screening, we were lucky enough to have all three movie stars attend afterwards to answer some questions -- Colin Firth, Hugh Grant and Renee Zellwegger. I was a little dissapointed in Renee as I had always thought of her as an intelligent being, that she seemed quite childish and shy and uncomfortable. However, Hugh Grant was very quick witted and witty and charming and very funny. Colin Firth, although much hotter and very good looking in person, was trying to keep up with Grant's jokes, and had a few laughable ones, but he is more of a serious, dark, mysterious type, and that's fine by me. Another surprise is that none of them were very sure or confident about this movie....










Recommended: Yes