I loved the first Bridget Jones movie and I have read both novels, which I found witty, intelligent and fun. Unfortunately, none of these words apply to Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Renee Zellweger reprises her role as Bridget Jones, a painfully insecure but charming 30-something journalist who, this time around, is actually not so charming. Hugh Grant (Love Actually) plays Daniel Cleaver, and Colin Firth (Girl with the Pearl Earing) plays Mr. Darcy. As in the first Bridget Jones, both still continue to vie for Bridget's affections. Daniel remains a womanizing jerk, and Mr. Darcy is, of course, annoyingly perfect.Sequels often pale in comparison to their predecessors, and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is no different. The film is really just a series of misadventures feebly strung together. Naturally, Bridget creates all of the problems she is then later forced to solve. Throughout the film, I couldn't help but cringe as I watched her make mistake after mistake from insulting Mr. Darcy's co-workers to pretending she knew how to ski. Watching her try to hold onto Mr. Darcy proves too embarrassing to watch. It is as if she is more insecure as this film opens than at the start of the first movie. Bridget is supposed to be quirky and sexy, but instead she appears pathetic and silly. In fact, it was difficult for me to understand why Mr. Darcy and Daniel were interested in her, and furthermore, why Mr. Darcy puts up with her paranoia and insecurities.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is a poor model of a real romantic relationship. It infuses virtually all stereotypical insecurities that women have about men into its plot. First, Bridget is dissatisfied with her life until she has obtained the "perfect prince charming." Second, she can never truly enjoy this "perfect relationship" because she is too afraid and insecure to believe that a man can be consistently interested in her. Yet her low confidence does not seem to turn off the men in her life as it probably would in the real world. While the first Bridget Jones was empowering, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is quite the opposite.

The sequel mocks its heroine when it should celebrate her. The plot doesn't go anywhere, and each character is essentially one-dimensional. While I enjoyed Mr. Darcy in the first Bridget Jones, I found him to be an annoyingly dutiful boyfriend without any pizzazz this time around. As for Daniel Cleaver, he isn't even supposed to be in the sequel; all he does is rehash what Bridget has already settled into after the first film.

I left Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason truly bothered by its message. Bridget dotes over Mr. Darcy as if she cannot believe she has "caught him," and that any day he will wake up and realize she is utterly beneath him. Obviously, we are made to believe that Bridget has found one of the few good men left in the world. Could any of us ever be that lucky?