In the last three years, Renée Zellweger has lost all 25 pounds of her Bridget Jones weight, vamped her way through Chicago, chunked up again for Cold Mountain, waifed away for Down with Love, and -- finally -- put all that weight back on for her long-awaited return to the role of an insecure Brit -- one which she swore she'd never perform again.

Well, throw enough money at something and it's bound to change people's minds. In fact, that seems to be the operating assumption for the entirety of this sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, a lackluster follow-up to the mildly enchanting original.

The entire original cast is back this time around -- no small financial feat, I'd assume -- although Sharon Maguire (a friend of Helen Fielding who still has one movie credit to her name) is out as director, replaced by To Wong Foo director Beeban Kidron.

For the most part, the original plot is back this time around, too. Picking up six weeks after the close of episode 1, Edge of Reason offers Bridget (Zellweger) in a happy relationship with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth)… but not for long. Bridget is wracked with jealousy over Darcy's time away from her, which appears to involve a potential suitor in Rebecca (Jacinda Barrett) and doubt about her physical appearance and mental insecurities. The titular "edge of reason" is intense and crushing paranoia, made worse by the reappearance of philandering Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, again stealing the show).

Meanwhile, Bridget finds herself wrestling with familiar foibles, like trying to ski, parachuting butt-first into a pig sty, and trying to get dressed. But the laughs have no heart. Bridget is played a stooge for cheap laughs and little more; the humanity that resonated in the first film comes off as a desperate kind of slapstick this time around.

Sure, some of this is genuinely funny -- another tussle between Darcy and Cleaver, and a clever struggle with Bridget trying to communicate in German -- but the most humorous moments of the film come off as retreads of the original. When Reason tries to break free of its predecessor, we're thrust into unlikely -- and unfunny -- comic scenarios. I don't know about you, but I never thought we'd be forced to dig for the humor of Bridget wasting away in a Thai prison and teaching the hookers incarcerated there to sing "Like a Virgin." Is this a long way to go for a Chicago gag? Who knows? Chances are, you'll be bored of the repetitive and choppy story long before then.

If you find yourself longing for another dose of Jones, simply rent the original again and pretend it's a year later in Bridget's life. Or just get a pint of Ben & Jerry's.

The DVD adds deleted scenes (with an alternate opening), commentary track, and a collection of documentary featurettes.



Edge of bedsheets.