Review: BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)–**
At the end of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, I couldn’t help feeling our loopy heroine Bridget wasn’t good enough for the charming and oh so adorable Mark Darcy. I doubt that’s the reaction I was supposed to have, considering this is the sequel to one of 2001’s the best movies.
The Edge of Reason still revels in the woes of the single, thirty-something woman in the 21st Century, and doesn’t let the fact that Jones is in the relationship of a lifetime get in the way. The frumpy Brit thus seems borderline psychotic instead of loveably lovelorn. In a way it’s tragic, but who could have expected more from a woman ditzy enough to end up in a Thai prison.
But the drug trafficking arrest happens about halfway through the film, after Jones (Renee Zellweger) convinces herself that Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) is cheating. Now, Darcy is a man, perfect by any measure, who “has high regard for her wobbly parts” and embraces Jones’ wild misadventures. Jones can even embarrass her human rights lawyer boyfriend in front of heads of state and end up with Darcy wanting to sweep her into the bedroom.
Despite his indestructible affection, Darcy’s high rolling friends and hot legged colleagues all point to infidelity. Right?
Women have told me that Bridget’s insecurity on film is just an illustration of every woman’s real life relationship anxiety. A woman finds the perfect man; falls for the bad guy, in this case Hugh Grant’s Daniel Cleaver; and it takes a knock on the head to realize that the perfect man was the perfect man all along.
The entirety of Hugh Grant’s screen time, though often funny and at times hysterical, is based on the repetitive premise. His Daniel Cleaver reenters Jones’ life after her relationship meltdown. You may remember him as the bad guy Jones fell for in the first film instead of falling for Darcy, the perfect man. He’s still a scoundrel, buying prostitutes in Thailand while he and Jones co-host a travel program. Like Darcy, however, Cleaver is one of the few reasons to sit through this movie.
Cleaver and Darcy provide the most enjoyable moments. As Darcy, Firth woos us with his incredibly charming demeanor and perfect words for every imperfect moment. Hugh’s Cleaver has a randy and raunchy humor and seemingly sincere motives that made me fall for him again. When Zellweger’s Jones is put up against the two mammoth performances, it’s impossible for her gimmicky exploits and crushing insecurity to entertain like either Firth or Grant.
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason suffers from the same problem as every animated Disney movie since The Lion King. In The Edge of Reason, there is an acknowledgement of what worked in the first film and it’s merely mimicked in the follow-up. With a better director, The Edge of Reason could have overcome its own insecurities. It’s too bad the filmmakers, like Bridget, didn’t see a good thing when they had it.
Get Email Updates
