When last seen, bumbling, neurotic Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) had finally dumped her former boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), and snuggled in with her priggish Prince Charming, otherwise known as Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). While Bridget's "a love pariah" no more, her next question is: "What happens after you walk into the sunset?" It's deja vu all over again when Bridget's "happily ever after" bliss is not only challenged by her jealousy of Mark's colleague gorgeous (Jacinda Barrett) but, more importantly, by her own desperate lack of self-esteem.

Perhaps because Helen Fielding's second novel is so modest, three additional screenwriters (Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis and Adam Brooks) came in to flesh it out, along with heavy-handed director Beeban Kidron, who amplifies Bridget's sappy melodrama and awkward, even annoying slapstick and doesn't seem to notice that she's turned these eccentric characters into caricatures. Sadly, the stalwart, colorful supporting characters (Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, etc.) are now mere cameos. Jany Temime's costumes and Adrian Biddle's photography do little to enhance poor Bridget, who seems far lumpier and less attractive this time 'round.

The result is simply a silly trifle that's elevated by Renee Zellweger's endearing, almost irresistible performance. Naturally slim, she's gamely piled on the pounds again and become even clumsier. Colin Firth embodies the solid sort of fellow every "thirtysomething" woman wants to wind up with but only after her heart's been battered around a bit by the likes of a charming cad like Hugh Grant. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" is an amusing 5, appealing to the deep-seated insecurities in all of us.