Stars: Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth

Summary: Includes the British romantic comedies BRIDGET JONES: EDGE OF REASON and ABOUT A BOY.

Includes the British romantic comedies BRIDGET JONES: EDGE OF REASON and ABOUT A BOY. In BRIDGET JONES: EDGE OF REASON, Bridget remains torn between two lovers: Daniel Cleaver, the charming womaniser, and Mark Darcy, the handsome but somewhat stern lawyer. When Bridget sets off to Thailand for a working holiday, she is unaware of the repercussions that the trip will have on her life, including the realisation of who she really wants to be with. Based on the best selling novel by Nick Hornby, ABOUT A BOY concerns Will Freeman, a shallow thirty-something bachelor, who lives a carefree life courtesy of his deceased father's fortune. Will is terrified of commitment and so decides that single mothers will make the easiest romantic targets. His world is turned around when he meets Marcus, a twelve year old boy. Marcus teaches Will that there is much more to life than loafing around in his London flat and worrying about the latest trends and fashions.

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Bridget Jones: Edge Of Reason

Although it's been three years since we last saw Bridget (Renée Zellweger), only a few weeks have passed in her world. She is, as you'll remember, no longer a "singleton," having snagged stuffy but gallant Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) at the end of the 2001 film. Now she's fallen deeply in love and out of her neurotic mind with paranoia: Is Mark cheating on her with that slim, bright young thing from the law office? Will the reappearance of dashing cad Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) further spell the end of her self-confidence when they're shoved off to Thailand together for a TV travel story? If such questions also seem pressing to you, this sequel will be fairly painless, but you shouldn't expect anything fresh. Director Beeban Kidron and her screenwriters--all four of them!--are content to sink matters into slapstick, with chunky Zellweger (who's unflatteringly photographed) the literal butt of all jokes. Though the star still has her charms, and some of Bridget's social gaffes are amusing, the film is mired in low comedy--a sequence in a Thai women's prison is more offensive than outrageous--with only Grant's rakish mischief to pull it out of the swamp. --Steve Wiecking

About a Boy

The film version of Nick Hornby's novel About a Boy takes a deeper though no less entertaining approach than the easy laughs of Fever Pitch and High Fidelity. The "coming together" of idle playboy Will (Hugh Grant) and put-upon loner Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) is a revealing tale of self-understanding and role reversal. Will finds that being yourself is of little consequence without a defining human context, while Marcus finds that pleasing others counts for little without a degree of self-confidence. How they arrive at this complementary awareness is the intriguing subject matter of the film, involving well-meaning single mothers, difficult adolescents and helpless older adults. Yet there's a wider significance to all this in the guise of human stereotypes--how we fall into them and how we can try to get out of them.

The film's wit and amusement comes down to deft and understated directing from Chris and Paul Weitz, and a snappily crafted screenplay from Peter Hedges and the Weitz brothers. Grant clips his hair as well as his vowels for a believable and ultimately sympathetic Will--by far his best performance since Four Weddings and a Funeral. As Marcus, Hoult is convincingly self-dependent, but could have been even more self-absorbed. Toni Collette is a dead-ringer for the well-meaning but ineffectual hippie mother Fiona, while Rachel Weisz gives her best screen performance to date as the attractive and vulnerable Rachel, with whom Will comes of age emotionally. Badly Drawn Boy's soundtrack will delight those who enjoy his brand of reconstituted 1970s Dylan; the title track has a wistful charm and there's a gem of an instrumental in the "Countdown" sequence. About a Boy is in the best traditions of British comedy: enlightening as it amuses, it's a film to enjoy and come back to. --Richard Whitehouse

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Release Date:	August 14, 2006
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	8245131
Keywords:	About, Jones, Boy, Comedy, Reason, Bridget, Edge, Romantic, A, Of
Genre:	Comedy