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Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

November 19, 2004

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Starring: Renee Zellwegger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Jacinda Barrett, Gemma Jones (barely), Jim Broadbent (even more barely), Shirley Henderson (for one scene).

Helen Fielding ain't no Shakespeare, I think we can all agree on that. The first Bridget Jones book was mediocre at best so it stands to reason that the first movie would be vastly superior to it if they even put in a small amount of effort. That being said, it is my understanding that the second Bridget Jones book was so atrocious that it "made the first book read like Dickens¹!" I know the second book had to suck because even Brad couldn't finish it and he makes it a point to finish every book he picks up2.

So let's use this equation: If the percentage difference in quality (+/-%q) between Bridget Jones' Diary the book (BJDb) and Bridget Jones' Diary the movie (BJDm) was +100% and sequels by nature are inferior by half³ (-50%) and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason the book (BJ:TEORb) exceeded the negative half differential by an additional third (-33%) then Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason the movie (BJ:TEORm) would already be 2/3 less entertaining than its predecessor. Therefore it is guaranteed to suck before it is even made. Here is the full equation:

(BJDb / BJDm) + 100%
(BJ:TEORb / BJTEORm) - 50% (-33%) = suck

I hope that clarifies it for you. But as far as the storyline goes, picture the first movie only dumber. The main problem I had with this film was that it was just not funny. It retreads the same exact jokes from the first film. It doesn't even try to invent new situations for Bridget. In the first movie, Bridget created problems for herself and eventually learned from her mistakes. In this film Bridget exists only so the situations can happen to her, like standing in a nice dress next to a puddle so not one but two cars can drive by and splash her. Or like putting on her make-up in a bumpy car ride to that when she shows up to a fancy party she somehow managed to get rouge on her chin and forehead.

The film took what gags were funny in the first film and repeats them hoping that the audience will still think they are funny. Remember when Bridget slid down the fireman's pole and her butt went into the camera and they replayed it over and over again on TV? Same thing here only replace "fireman's pole" with "sky diving" and you get the idea. Also, remember when Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver had a fight in the street and crashed through a plate glass window? Same here except a fountain is the stand-in for the window. How about when Bridge leaves long, meandering, low self-esteem driven voice mail messages to men? Same. Wears an ugly jumper her mum made. Same. Mark has an ugly jumper his mum made? Same. Granny pants reference. Same. "Wobbly bits" reference. Same. Same. Same. Same. Same. Same! Here is something different though, Bridget is arrested and thrown into a Thai prison where she teaches the inmates a dance routine to "Like A Virgin". Painful.

But aside from all of that, the thing that pissed me off the most was that Bridget was upset that Mark hadn't proposed marriage to her yet after they had been dating for 6 weeks. SIX WEEKS and she expects a ring on her finger?! She deserves to die a lonely old spinster if she is angry that Mark hasn't asked for her hand after a 45-day courtship. How dare he wait a normal amount of time before making a life-altering decision. Besides during the entire movie she frets and stresses thinking that Mark is having an affair with an office co-worker named Rebecca. Despite the fact that Bridget has no real evidence, despite the fact that he told her he wasn't and despite the fact that Mark is not the type of person to cheat on someone considering that his ex-wife did just that with Daniel in the first film.

In the first movie Bridget was charming, quirky, silly and a lot like a normal person who, by the end of the film, had learned from her mistakes. In BJ:TEoR she has regressed back to before the first movie and is even more neurotic, clingy, desperate, insecure and annoying than she ever was. I wouldn't marry that either. Bridget hasn't grown since we first met her and for a sequel to work the characters have to have done just that, otherwise it is a basic rehash of the same stuff, which is what we got here.

The movie is not funny and quite frankly it takes away from the sheer delight that was the first film. I am just going to quietly pretend it never happened like I did with the final 2 seasons of The X-Files and that whole time traveling plot on Guiding Light a few years back.

My Grade: C

¹ Michelle Novick
² Except the Bible, "Genesis had too much incest."
³ Save for X2: United which was vastly superior to X-Men 1 (but may later be proven to be part of a trilogy and thus not a sequel.)

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