While I enjoy reading, I rarely have the time to do it. But I did manage to read both Bridget Jones' Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. I loved them both. While not the same as the book (a movie can't be), I thoroughly enjoyed the first movie as much as I did the first book. Ironically, the things that I didn't like about Edge of Reason, the book is the very same things I didn't like about Edge of Reason, the movie.

But, before I continue on with this review, please allow me to rant just a bit (if you aren't interested in my rant, continue to the next paragraph). Bridge Jones at her heaviest was about 140. At average height, she was never FAT.  Renee Zellweger had to gain weight to play Bridget. So what? She actually looked like a real woman for a change instead of a shapeless twig. She looked normal. She looked fine and there was absolutely nothing wrong with her. Hollywood has deluded women into thinking that anything besides a size 4 is 'fat'. Marilyn Monroe was a 12 or a 14. She'd be relegated to 'plus-size' in our current hostile-to-curves environment. I always said, if the Lord had wanted to me to be a skinny, scrawny and straight up and down, he'd have made me a 12 year old boy. I am a woman. I have breast. I have hips. I look like a woman and I refuse to be ashamed about it! Renee, eat a sandwich! End of rant.

Bridget Jones begins two weeks after the last one ended. It's a new year, Bridget (Rene Zellweger) has a new diary and a new relationship with stuffy but sweet human rights attorney Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). She is trying to adjust to her new 'blissful' relationship but old insecurities die hard. Bridget gets jealous of Mark's attractive co-worker Rebecca (Jacinda Barrett) and the reemergence of her ex- Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) complicates things even further. 

The movie revisits a lot of the situations that proved so funny in the first film. There is another fight between Daniel and Mark, there is another scene of Bridget and her insanely large granny panties. Although these scenes are familiar, they still provide lots of laughs (although part of me would have liked to see something a little more original but equally funny).

Bridget works best when she is the girl we can call relate to. She worries about her weight. She gets jealous of her boyfriend's co-worker. She starts to fall for her charming ex- when she should really know better. What doesn't work for Bridget, in the movie or in the book, is her getting thrown into a Thai jail. When I read it in the book, I said, "What the *&^%?" I had the same reaction in the movie. 

While the Thai prison scenes were a bit much, I understand why they were necessary and the movie does manage to rebound. By the end, the Thai scenes definitely served to make the ending even that much more romantic.

I think I still prefer the first Bridget Jones but it's good to know that there is a happy ending for our neurotic and insecure friend across the pond.