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Sequels are generally not expected to be as good as originals, unless we're talking of The Godfather or Shrek; there are exceptions to every rule. But with the original principals of Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant on board for Bridget 2, the omens were good.
We catch up with television "personality" Bridget in raptures over human rights lawyer boyfriend Mark Darcy (Colin Firth, famously smouldering as D'Arcy in Pride and Prejudice but here so stuck up we want to slap him). All is going well for our heroine - and we instantly know to expect something will go wrong and spoil her fun.
Being unreasonable (on the advice of her friends and on the advice of a lady known only as "the jellyfish"), she dumps Mark and finds herself improbably pursued by old flame Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), who has taken to appearing on TV as a smooth-talking culture critic. In one scene that will surely baffle American audiences, we get to snigger as Cleaver meets Jeremy Paxman and calls the Newsnight and University Challenge anchor a "tosser" when he's not listening.
The opening credits tell a tale of scriptwriting woe. Four people wrote the screenplay. But one of these is Helen Fielding, whose books the Bridget films are adapted from. Another is Richard Curtis, the man responsible for Blackadder, Notting Hill, Four Weddings. And Shrek 2 has squillions of writers credited, after all. What's odd here is that the writers appear to have been writing in isolation, because none of the set-pieces really add up to a cohesive plot. Instead, this second film is rather a rehash of the first film.
There are the same set-pieces as the first film - Bridget's "big panties", a fight between Firth and Grant, Bridget descending arse first towards a camera (this time skydiving), Bridget's batty mother saying daft things. But there are new aspects too. Bridget gets to travel further afield - to Austria, for a predictably disastrous skiing holiday, and Thailand on an assignment - though Bangkok in this film inexplicably features an elephant bumbling along a main road and taxis instead of tuk tuks. And Bridget ends up in prison on drugs charges. Hang on - that's new!
Stealing every scene he's in (except those filmed in Phang Nga Bay in Thailand, where he's overshadowed by some great limestone karsts) is Hugh Grant, who as ever makes acting look easy and makes audiences love him. He's great at playing the rogue and is a perfect foil for Firth's stiff upper lip. That his character is actually more involving than Bridget is something of a moot point.
Paxo aside, there's a welcome cameo from former EastEnders star Paul Nichols, who gets to play the The Beach-reading backpacker who gets Bridget into trouble with the Thai authorities - but not before he's left us wondering if he's clippered his chest hair since appearing in A Thing Called Love.
At times a cartoon character, Bridget Jones is less a symbol of singledom in our times as one person of many who has experiences and somehow comes through them. And her second outing is not as good as the original. Yet it's not half as bad as it might have been either, and is still likely to cause a smile or two.
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