"Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit." "Police Academy 2." Virtually every straight-to-video Disney movie ever made. All were sequels to highly successful movies, yet are now collecting dust somewhere on the back of rental store shelves instead of enjoying the longevity of their originals.
Yet in the wake of excellent follow-ups like "Spiderman 2," and "Shrek 2," sequels have been gaining respectable ground with critics and movie-goers alike. "Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason" was supposed to be one of those sequels. The media buzz and lofty predictions that swirled around the second installment of 2001's "Bridget Jones's Diary" were considerable. Sadly, at the end of the day, this sequel is more of a "Very Brady Sequel" than an "Empire Strikes Back."
The most glaring inadequacy of "Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason" is that it fails to preserve the down-to-earth persona of Ren?©e Zellweger's character that had delighted audiences in the first film. For females aged 16 to 65 who were bored to death with impossibly perfect leading ladies like Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts, the klutzy, clumsy, realistically flawed Bridget Jones had been a breath of fresh air. But despite new male director Beeban Kidron's attempts to re-create that same Bridget the second time around, the mystique is gone.
Sure, this Bridget is still a wee bit chubby and more than a little awkward, but she is no longer the girl's girl, the unglamorous antihero; she is not the if-she-were-a-real-person-she'd-be-my-best-friend comfort object she once was.
The new Bridget faces fantastically melodramatic social, career, and romantic situations the likes of which real single women only read about in trashy supermarket magazines. The soundtracks say it all; the glitzy, hip-hop stylings of superstar Beyonc?© have symbolically usurped the classically feminist anthem "I'm Every Woman" from the first album.
And so the music that had once embodied the unrefined, original Bridget Jones has now transformed her, like Meg and Julia, into that popular girl from high school you could only dream of being friends with.
But like all sequels who fail to live up to the legacy of their predecessors, just because they're not as good doesn't mean they're not any good. "Edge of Reason" still has the general appeal of all chick flicks. The ability to celebrate the highs and lows of feminine life to a degree that makes any man in the theater thoroughly uncomfortable. This alone would ensure that "Edge of Reason" did not meet the horrible fate of any "Police Academy" sequel.
Beyond that, the richness of the supporting cast will guarantee at least semi-success for "Edge of Reason," as its dynamic comedy is still very much intact. Although they've all been caricaturized to the brink of un-reality - Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth) is more loyal than Fido, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) is sleazier than a used car salesman, and Bridget's posse of friends is cattier than the "Sex and the City" girls - it is completely forgivable.
Humor abounds with scenes like the historic "fist fight" between Darcy and Cleaver, proving once and for all that British men should stick to duels if they want to project even a shred of machismo. A rare combination of physical humor and witty repartee manages to strike the perfect balance between "Dodgeball" slapstick and "Gilmore Girls" banter marathons. And, yes, the Granny Panties make a cameo appearance.
As a whole, the film is not as mundanely mainstream as its portrayal of the leading lady would have you think. Simply by settling the usually unanswered question of what happens to the damsel in distress after the handsome prince rides her off into the sunset, "Edge of Reason" separates itself from its romantic comedy sequel counterparts. Of course, the lilting voiceovers of passages read from Bridget's diary are just as refreshingly clever as they were in the first film.
So should "Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason" get filed between "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" and "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" on the rental store shelf? Hmm, that's a little harsh.
For now, Bridget Jones can sleep soundly knowing that she was the last rat to make it off the sinking S.S. Sequel. But how close did she come to toppling overboard? Let's just say that Bridget Jones has pushed her sequel capacity to "the edge." <$>
