Bridget Jones

Bridget Jones's Diary (movie tie-in)
$15.00
Great, great voice and humor. Really, I laughed. It was great, humor-wise.

HOWEVER,

The plot was boring and drawn out. I really think the format made many of the large events seem random. Also, she's kind of an idiot. Her attitude reminds me of the Princess Diaries, because she acts like a major teen.

Also, it was redundant. "I love [insert name here]. Let's go drink. Let's go have a fag. Let's sleep together."

WHY Darcy likes her is beyond me. If I met her, I'd be appalled.

Bridget Jones's Diary (Collector's Edition)
$14.99
This movie is incredibly funny. I've watched it several times and every time I find a new line that I didn't catch before that cracks me up. Love the performances also. Great actors, great story-line. Great for collectors.

Bridget Jones - The Edge of Reason (Full Screen Edition)
$5.98
The original "Bridget Jones Diary" is one of my favorite recent comedies . . . I can say that even though I'm a guy. Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant led a stellar ensemble cast that was as committed to pitch-perfect little moments as it was to broad laughs and big romantic scenes. All in all, the original "BJD" is right up there with the most charming of English comedies.

But you know what happens with Hollywood and good ideas - if there's a nickel to be made, then nothing is sacred.

Somehow Zellweger, Firth and Grant let their "people" talk them into making this absolutely soulless shell of a sequel. On the Sequel Scale, with "Godfather II" at the top with an easy 10 and "Caddyshack 2" a zero, "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" rates about a 1.5. The concept is stupid - Bridget is still dizzily in love with Darcy (Firth), and he does nothing at all wrong except be just too darn perfect for words. But we must contrive some conflict, so Bridget concocts stupid sins on his part that even she realizes are stupid, but they are sufficient to create some distance between the two.

Look, in romantic comedies we expect a certain amount of cliche and coincidence - it comes with the territory. But this sequel just isn't true to Bridget. She learned in the first movie that Darcy really loved her, and she is a smart enough girl that she would never do the idiotic things she does in this movie. That's one of her most endearing qualities - Bridget is smarter than the thin people in her world realize. Stupid Bridget just ain't that interesting.

In this closed universe of profiteering, the filmmakers are so completely bereft of ideas that no sooner has Darcy left the stage in a semi-huff that Hugh Grant oozes back into Bridget's life, looking for a return to Bridget's arms. This makes absolutely no sense - here's Grant (it makes no sense to refer to his name - he's playing Hugh Grant), jet-setting around the world for a fun TV show, apparently still sleeping with supermodels, and yet his number one goal seems to be to seduce Bridget. Whaaaa? If Grant's purpose was to get revenge on Darcy, then perhaps the movie might have been funny. Not even Hugh Grant's charm can make this ridiculous character work.

We also get lots of contrived scenes demonstrating how the lovable Bridget gets herself into trouble. When Bridget thinks she's pregnant, not only are the filmmakers content to fall back on the old "Let's watch the terrible skier fly down the mountain at top speed, leaving a trail of destruction while narrowly escaping death and screaming 'Whoooo!'," but they have her glide into a pharmacy (yes, a pharmacy) at the bottom of the slope (pretty prime real estate for a pharmacy), where she requests a birth control test, only to realize that she is in the one store in a German tourist town where nobody speaks English. Hardy har nope. There's more exercise of similar "wit," including most tastelessly some completely shameless scenes in a Thai women's prison, where the filmmakers think the prisoners can be made to forget their cares and woes with a little Madonna sing-a-long and some lingerie. Nice.

Save your money - do not buy this film. At best, this movie should be seen by potential filmmakers and storytellers as a cautionary tale of the bad things that can happen to a great idea.

Bridget Jones's Diary - Colletctor's Series (Widescreen)
$6.01
I saw this movie, kicking and screaming, when my younger sister foisted it upon me. Thinking that it was going to be another Gen X piece of claptrap, I gritted my teeth and prepared myself for what I erroneously thought would be a waste of time. Was I ever wrong! It turned out to be a sublime cinematic experience.

Renee Zellweger is definitely the star of this film. She positively twinkles! She is absolutely marvelous in the role of Bridget Jones, our single, thirty something, English Holly-Go-Lightly. Employed as a somewhat graceless publicist, the plump and perky Bridget enters into an affair with her caddish, handsome, sexy boss, winningly played by the ever charming and debonair Hugh Grant.

Meanwhile, her mother has introduced her to an attorney, the stiff-necked Mr. Darcy, played to taciturn perfection by Colin Firth. Even though they were once childhood playmates, he and Bridget do not initially click, and it is not love at first sight, as Bridget's mother had so hoped. Bridget goes on her merry way with her boss, unaware that he is two-timing her. When she discovers his perfidy, it is too late, as she already fancies herself in love with him.

Mr. Darcy, however, re-enters the picture, and what happens is a thing of beauty to watch. The film is very funny. Rene Zellweger as a Brit is totally believable. She is so good that she would even fool the Queen into believing her to be one of the Queen's own subjects. Without a doubt, this is one of Ms. Zellweger's best roles to date, and she is positively delightful. Moreover, Sharon Maguire's directorial debut is certainly noteworthy, as she shows signs of a deft comedic touch in her direction. This is simply a terrific film. Bravo!