Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
While it's cast largely in the same musical mold as its winningpredecessor, there's a more palpable sense of romantic melancholy wafting through this soundtrack to the further misadventures of Rene Zelwegger's lovably hapless, love-triangulated Bridget. Though still aimed at adult contemporary tastes, it's also imbued with a healthier dose anglocentric cool via tracks like Jamelia's torchy "Stop," Will Young's elegant take on Sade's "Your Love is King," teenagedAlfiecontributor Joss Stone's soulful "Super Duper Love" and the ubiquitous Kylie Minogue's teasing "Can't Get You Out of My Head." Mary J. Blige offers up a stark, melodramatic cover of Elton John's "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" while Rufus Wainwright (with Dido) turns Anna McCarrigle's (Wainwright's mother) "I Eat Dinner" into an emotive centerpiece. There are the expected 70's chestnuts (10cc's "I'm Not in Love," "Nobody Does It Better" by Carly Simon, Minnie Ripperton's "Lovin You") and the obligatory superstar remake (Sting and Annie Lennox muscling up his "We'll Be Together"), but a few surprises as well, including the deliciously over-the-top, nouveau glam-rock left turn by The Darkness, "I Believe In A Thing Called Love."--Jerry McCulley