The Art of Bridget Jones

Consider this blog entry a response to one reader who told me the following:

“You … criticize whatever intellectual wankery is thrown your way but you review these movies that are like the dross of popular culture. … You should check out The A List by Jay Carr and start going through that or Ebert’s The Great Movies. I want to see your critical mind deal with movies like Red by Kieslowski or Ikuru by Akurasura or Through a Glass Darkly by Bergman. I think you would have more fun with these.”

I take these responses to heart, so I am now changing the format of “My Life in Movies.” In light of this change, I will now review that little-known art house flick, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. This movie not only fully engaged me but made me question my own perceptions of beauty and reality. The title’s provocative ambiguity sets the stage for a film that moves through dream and reality to make a statement about people’s need for affection…

Ah, I can’t keep this up. This film sucked, big time. This movie is the worst of the “dross of popular culture,” as my friend called it. Sometimes popular movies can be subtle comments on morality, reality, or temptation, but this one is none of those things. Whoever decided to throw this movie together had already fallen off Bridget Jones’s edge of reason.

I enjoyed the first one because it was atypical, but this one is merely a cheap rehash of the first one. In fact, everything about this one is exactly the same as the first one: woman looking for love can’t choose between two men, even though she knows she should choose her sense instead of her sensibility. The only thing vaguely interesting about this movie is seeing how much weight the waifish Renee Zellweger put on. But then we’re forced to watch her waddle around in some terrible shots that are designed to highlight her weight. There are several plot turns that are new here, but they are completely ridiculous. I normally don’t use words like “stupid” to describe movies, but this one deserves it. It’s stupid, pure and simple.

So, my friend, I won’t keep up prattling about Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. This movie is terrible, and shouldn’t even garner a review. Maybe next time, I will get a chance to review a Werner Herzog film…

Grade for Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason: 0