Bridget Jones is a love pariah no more! But her film franchise (if two constitute a franchise) is suffering from a sophomore slump. "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" is not as strong a movie as its 2001 predecessor, "Bridget Jones's Diary," but the second book wasn't as good, either, and it's been changed substantially here.

		'Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason' Rating: R for language, some sexual content. Starring: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant. Director: Beeban Kidron.

For one thing, the Helen Fielding novel had a subplot about Bridget flying to Italy to interview actor Colin Firth -- but Colin Firth stars in the movies as Bridget's love interest so that obviously had to be jettisoned. Too bad, because it was hilarious, but enough about what's not in the movie.

"The Edge of Reason" opens with Bridget (Renee Zellweger) blissfully happy and six sexy weeks into her relationship with human-rights lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). "He's given up being snooty and I've given up smoking or he thinks I have," Bridget says, as she secretly fans away her cigarette smoke. Truth be told, Mark is still a bit snooty, too.

Since a happy relationship does not a comedy make, Bridget finds herself out of place among Mark's stuffy peers, on thin ice during a ski getaway, jealous of a young colleague of Mark's named Rebecca (Jacinda Barrett) and working once again with the devilish Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), who is in therapy for his womanizing ways. Bridget may have a steady boyfriend, but she's still a klutz who buys a new gown for a formal dinner and has her hair done, only to realize she's got "mad hair" and can barely breathe because of scary knickers flattening her stomach.

Bridget's troubles in the first film, however, were nothing compared to what happens here during a trip to Thailand on assignment for a television show. It's a litmus test for Mark and Daniel and puts the heroine's resiliency to the test, too.

"The Edge of Reason," with a screenplay credited to four people including Fielding, recycles several bits from the first movie: the horrid holiday sweaters, the fear of spinsterhood, the obsession with weight, the sorry fisticuffs between the male suitors, the confused singleton who's just looking for love, plus her parents (Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones) and circle of friends, who don't get much screen time here.

Zellweger, an Oscar winner for the Civil War epic "Cold Mountain," slips back into Bridget's accent, well-rounded figure, granny panties and escapades with ease. Grant again plays the cad card as if to the manor born, and Firth properly stiffens his spine and upper lip to re-inhabit the buttoned-up barrister who is always getting calls from Bridget at the most inopportune times.

A resolution to one of the story strands seems far-fetched although the screenplay claims to lay the groundwork for it. "The Edge of Reason" boasts a most appealing trio, but it has a bad case of sequelitis, too much rehashed material and (only for those who read the books) a bumpy translation from page to picture. The movie, by the way, opens in limited release today and goes wider next week.