Latest video releases reviewed
BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON **
Directed by Beeban Kidron. Starring Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Sally Phillips, Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Jacinda Barrett 15 cert
Silly jumpers? Check! Punch-up between Grant and Firth? Check! Groans from boyfriend who really wanted to rent Hellboy? Check! Bar the inclusion of a hugely misjudged sequence in a Thai prison, BJ2 is almost indistinguishable from its predecessor. Mind you, the DVD does feature an interactive quiz, which will help you decide between naughty Daniel Cleaver and narcoleptic Mark Darcy. I'm a Cleaver kinda guy, apparently.
Donald Clarke
COFFEE AND CIGARETTES ***
Directed by Jim Jarmusch. Starring Roberto Benigni, Bill Murray, Steven Wright, Steve Buscemi, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Cate Blanchett, Steve Coogan, Alfred Molina 15 cert
Filmed in snatched moments over 17 years, Jarmusch's fitful portmanteau movie consists of a series of mostly elliptical vignettes in which familiar performers (add The White Stripes, RZA and GZA to those names listed above) have adventures over fags and Joe. There are some totally baffling segments, some wryly amusing ones and - howl as Coogan and Molina behave like different types of celebrity twit - one outbreak of sheer brilliance.
Donald Clarke
OLD BOY *****
Directed by Park Chan-wook. Starring Choi Min-sik 18 cert
A bravura exercise in sheer cinematic style, and winner of the runner-up prize at Cannes last year, this intense South Korean psychodrama deals with a loud-mouthed drunk abducted and held in solitary confinement for 15 years. The thoroughly unsettling consequences include live octopus consumption, bloody torture by dentistry, and twisted narrative revelations. Michael Dwyer
THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT
Directed by Garry Marshall. Starring Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, John Rhys-Davies Gen cert
The hugely-mouthed Hathaway gets involved in a tug-of-war between two suitors in this feeble follow-up to the picture about an ordinary girl who becomes a princess. Like the first, Royal Engagement is really just an exercise in vicarious wish-fulfilment for teenage girls who dream of castles, jewels and endless drawers full of expensive sunglasses. Julie Andrews, as flinty as ever, looks bored stiff throughout.
Donald Clarke
