Sometimes sequels to a very good movie do not work as well, and this one unfortunately is one that does not work as well as its original. One person in our party watching this movie in fact called it "painful".

The original Bridget Jones Diary worked very well, at least in my opinion. It worked well not only because of a good story line, great casting and great acting, but the script and direction made the film also both witty and fun. In a sequel, often we are promised just part of that formula – the basic story line and a similar cast. Yes, this film does have a similar story line and a similar cast, but the script and the direction fall far short of the original. Hence instead of a witty fast paced fun movie where we laugh along with Bridget Jones, we have a slow moving non-funny movie that mostly seems to laugh at Bridget Jones and not with her.

The movie seems to lack the new elements that would make a sequel like this interesting. Instead it seems to fall back and simply exaggerate some of the elements of the first movie. It is "Over the Top" as one in Britain might say. Unfortunately this exaggeration tends to make things less funny and not funnier. In the first movie businessman Hugh Grant is mostly a businessman but is occasionally selfish and occasionally sexually selfish. In the second movie he spends less time as a businessman and more time just seeming out for himself. In the first movie, Bridget sometimes has low self-confidence. In the second movie, she almost always has low self-confidence. In the second movie, the Colin Firth character seems to try to be even more nerdy than in the first movie. In the first movie Bridget is plump. In the second movie, she is plumper. Now, I could afford to lose a few pound myself, but hopefully you get the idea. The second movie exaggerates the first trying for more laughs. But on the path it loses itself and is much less witty and funny.

Now, one cannot blame the actresses and actors for this. I felt that Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth did their usual great jobs. For that reason alone, this movie may be well worth watching for you. It was because of the actresses and actors that I wished to see it. To make the movie great, however, it needed a script and direction to match.

Romantic comedies are, for the most part, an exception to the general maxim that, as surely as night follows day, every successful film will be followed by a sequel. The whole point of a rom-com is to tell the story of how a particular couple fall in love, and falling in love is something which, generally speaking, most couples only do once. This explains why no sequels were ever made to "Four Weddings and a Funeral" or "Notting Hill", even though they were two of the best British romantic comedies of the nineties. Paul Hogan did make a sequel to "Crocodile Dundee", but "Crocodile Dundee 2", unlike its predecessor, was not so much a romantic comedy as a comic adventure story whose protagonists just happened to be husband and wife.

With "Bridget Jones's Diary" things were different. Because Helen Fielding had written a follow-up to her first novel, there was an expectation that the second novel would also be filmed. "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" was the result. At the beginning of the film Bridget and her barrister boyfriend Mark Darcy are still together. Following a quarrel, however, they split up, partly as a result of Mark's failure to commit to marriage, partly as a result of Bridget's unjustified suspicion that Mark is having an affair with his attractive colleague Rebecca Gilles. Bridget meets her former lover Daniel Cleaver, who offers her a job presenting a television travel show called "The Smooth Guide". (This is presumably a reference to the well-known "Rough Guide" series of travel books, but there is also a play on the word "smoothie" in the sense of "charming but untrustworthy man"). Daniel, of course, proves himself to be a smoothie in precisely this sense, leaving Bridget to be rescued by Mark when she is arrested in Thailand on drugs charges.

It may be the case that every successful film is followed by a sequel. That is not the same as saying that every successful film is followed by an equally successful sequel; indeed, it has become one of the standard received ideas of film criticism to say that, apart from "Godfather II", sequels are invariably worse than the original film. Like a number of received ideas, this one contains a good deal of truth, and although there have been some good sequels, "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" is not among them.

The main problem is that it simply repeats, with minor variations, the basic plot of the original film. Bridget becomes involved with Daniel, finds him to be charming but untrustworthy, and falls back on the more emotionally reticent, but also more solid and reliable, Mark, and the viewer is left feeling "So what? I've seen that story before". What was once fresh now seems stale. There is no attempt to develop the characters any further; the only difference is that Bridget's infatuation with Daniel evokes less sympathy the second time around, as she should have known from previous experience what a rotter he is. The Thai drug smuggling plot was hackneyed in the extreme. The Western media have three standard clichés about Thailand- prostitution, transvestitism and drugs- all of which are faithfully trotted out here. (One can only wonder what the Thais themselves make of this treatment of their country). The supposed "surprise revelation" about Rebecca could be seen coming a mile away.

There have recently been rumours that a third film in the franchise is to be made. Given the relative failure of "Bridget Jones II", can we hope that "Bridget Jones III" will be any better? 5/10 Some goofs. Mark refers to his "partners", but barrister, unlike solicitors, do not practise in partnership, and no barrister would refer to his colleagues in chambers in this way. There is no such body as the "Law Council"; the scriptwriter appears to have confused the Law Society (the solicitors' professional association) with the Bar Council (the professional body for barristers).

A great soundtrack and the delightful performance of Renee Zwelleger aren't good enough reasons for this "Bridget Jones" sequel: "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," the 2004 film starring Hugh Grant and Colin Firth as Bridget's suitors. The film continues as the relationship between Bridget and Mark develops, with Bridget's insecurities driving it toward disaster. Because of a promotion, Daniel is back in her life again - but out just as quickly. To top it off, she winds up in a Thai prison, and while there, she teaches fellow prisoners the right moves to "Like a Virgin." Finding enough of a plot to for a feature-length script was obviously tough, so tough, in fact, that large parts of it become music videos. Everyone is very good, but one can't help asking why someone like Mark puts up with Bridget. They're not a realistic couple. At all.

I'd have been furious if I'd paid to see this in a theater; in fact, I would have been unhappy if I had rented it. I saw it for free on TV and on that basis, it's okay and fun to see the actors and listen to the songs. Alas, it's the only way to see it without feeling you've been had.