Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason premiered at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia on 28 October 2004 and was released in the United Kingdom and the United States on 12 November. Despite generally negative reviews from critics, the film was a box office success, grossing over $265 million worldwide against a production budget of $40–50 million. Zellweger received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for her performance at the 62nd Golden Globe Awards.
Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) is ecstatic about her new relationship with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). However, her confidence is shattered when she meets Mark's assistant, the beautiful, slim, quick-witted Rebecca Gillies (Jacinda Barrett).
At her job on the TV morning show Sit-Up Britain, Bridget crosses paths with her ex, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), and is offered a position alongside him in a new travel series. Initially refusing, she declares Daniel is a "deceitful, sexist, disgusting specimen of humanity," but eventually signs on, despite her friends' misgivings.
Bridget is delighted when Mark invites her to his "Law Council Dinner," believing he will propose afterward. However, a series of mishaps make the evening a debacle, culminating in the team trivia quiz: Bridget makes a critical error on a question about Madonna, which Rebecca wins, leaving Bridget thoroughly deflated.
After the dinner, Mark and Bridget argue and she stomps off. He goes to her apartment, apologizes, and for the first time tells her that he loves her. Later that night, he invites her on a ski holiday to Lech, Austria. On the slopes, Bridget learns Rebecca is also there with a few other colleagues. She has a pregnancy scare, but after an argument over the upbringing and education of their hypothetical future children, the pregnancy test proves negative. Returning home, Bridget and Mark attend a lunch with their parents, where Bridget is hurt by Mark's dismissal of their prospective marriage.
Overhearing a message from Rebecca on Mark's answering machine, Bridget dissects it with her friends, who advise her to confront him; she does, he refuses "to dignify the question with an answer," and she breaks up with him. She travels to Thailand with Shazza (Sally Phillips) and Daniel Cleaver to film "The Smooth Guide." She and Daniel visit several exotic locations and, after Bridget accidentally consumes psilocybin mushrooms, they flirtily reconnect, but her trust in him dissipates again when a Thai prostitute he ordered appears, and she sees he has not changed.
Shazza has a fling with the much younger Jed (Paul Nicholls), who gives her a fertility snake bowl as a gift to take back to Britain, which ends up in Bridget's bag. When security dogs at the airport detect a large stash of cocaine inside it, Bridget is arrested and locked up in a Thai prison cell with almost 50 Thai female inmates. Feeling low and scared but glad at the friendliness of the inmates, she shares relationship advice with the others and teaches them to sing and dance to Madonna's "Like a Virgin".
Mark comes to tell Bridget that her release is imminent. After confirming Jed as the true perpetrator and that she "spent the night" with Daniel Cleaver, he declares her sex life does not interest him; Bridget does not correct his presumption, and he departs, leaving her sure he no longer loves her. Back in Britain, Mark confronts Daniel for abandoning Bridget in Thailand, and they fight outside an art gallery in Kensington Gardens. Daniel swears her off for good and says, "If you're so obsessed with Bridget Jones, why don't you just marry her?"
Bridget arrives at Heathrow Airport as an international human rights celebrity, greeted by her parents, who have been busy planning their vow renewal ceremony. At home, Bridget is surprised when her friends tell her that Mark personally tracked down the drug trafficker Jed, secured his custody and extradition, and forced him to admit her innocence. Hopeful that Mark still loves her, Bridget rushes to his house. Finding Rebecca there she assumes she is romantically involved with him, but Rebecca confesses her lesbian feelings for Bridget and kisses her; though flattered, she politely turns her down.
Bridget confronts Mark at his legal chambers, asking him to give her another chance. He proposes and she accepts. At the film's end, her parents renew their vows and Bridget catches the bouquet.
During the fight scene between Daniel and Mark at the "Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens" (actually filmed in the Italian Gardens near Lancaster Gate), it was for the most part not choreographed, instead, the actors were simply asked to fight each other any way they could. At one point in the film (where Bridget and Shazzer are at the Thai airport), Bridget indulges in a fantasy of Mark coming out of water in a wet white shirt, just like Colin Firth did in the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. The poem that Daniel quotes from while passing Ko Panyi is the story of "Phra Aphai Mani" by Sunthorn Phu.[citation needed]
One of the more significant differences between the novel and the film is that the film makes no mention of Bridget's fascination with the BBC television version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth starred in that production).[citation needed]
Sandra Gregory stated that the scenes involving the Thai prison probably received inspiration from her incident since Helen Fielding knew the next door neighbors of her parents and presumably would have talked to them.[8]
Release
Box office
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason opened in the United States on a limited release on 12 November 2004 and grossed $8.7 million, at #5 at the box office;[9] a week later, the film was given a wide release, again finishing fifth at the box office, this time with $10 million.[10] By the end of its theatrical run, it had grossed $40.2 million domestically and $224.9 million internationally, totaling $265.1 million worldwide.[4]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 26% based on 156 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The website's critics consensus stating: "Edge of Reason is a predictable continuation to the Bridget Jones story, with too much slapstick and silliness."[12]Metacritic, assigned the film a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[13] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[14]
Colin Firth told The Chicago Sun Times in April 2013:
Unfortunately, it might be a bit of a long wait. I wouldn't say that it's completely dead in the water, but the way it's going, you might be seeing Bridget Jones's granddaughter's story being told by the time we get there.[17]
In an interview in October 2014, Hugh Grant mentioned an existing script for a sequel, however also expressed his dislike for it and that he would not star in a third film.[18] Filming officially began on 2 October 2015. The movie opened on 16 September 2016.
Home media
The film was released on DVD and VHS on 22 March 2005 with a variety of bonus features.
Soundtrack
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (The Original Soundtrack)
English singer Jamelia covered "Stop", originally by Sam Brown, for the film.[19]
"Stop" was released as a double A-side with the song "DJ" on 1 November 2004. The single peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart and became Jamelia's fourth consecutive top-10 entry, spending 12 weeks on the chart. It also became her fourth consecutive top-40 single in Australia, peaking at number 37.
Uncut magazine gave the album three out of five stars, saying that "[I]ts quality control is close to impeccable."[20]Allmusic called it "a generally enjoyable, if slick, musical counterpart to the film's frothy romantic shenanigans."[21]
