After a lifetime of dating “workaholics, alcoholics and emotional f***wits,” she has reason to be skeptical. Mark seems too good to be true, so instead of taking to heart his affection for her, she is obsessed with his handsome sleeping self in her bed and tells anyone who crosses her path about her boyfriend, the successful human rights attorney. The real story of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is Bridget learning to trust another person and learning to like herself, just as she is, as much as her boyfriend does.

These are profound lessons to learn. But, this is subtle and introspective work, not the stuff of high drama, so this journey of self-realization may leave audiences a bit let down. The inward journey is dressed up with a pig pen, a ski trip, the gorgeous landscape of Thailand, a stay in a Thai prison and the reappearance of the bad boy ex, Daniel Cleaver. And a happy ending.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason takes a long, rambling novel and make a very good, very funny feature film. The movie boils the novel down to its essence, and it is a welcome installment in the franchise for several reasons.

Most importantly, three of those reasons are the return of the principal actors - Rene Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant, who all did a fantastic job of bringing these characters alive on the screen in the original film - are back and push their characters even farther. Firth, who inspired the character of Mark Darcy for the novel because of his role as Darcy in the television production of Pride and Prejudice, continues to develop the alternately warm and repressed traits of Mark Darcy. Daniel Cleaver isn’t in the second novel, but Grant makes such a great womanizing bad boy and Thailand is such an ideal playground for such a rogue, it was easy to fit him into the sequel. And Grant’s performance is breezy and charming, even though he’s the same old snake.

Bridget is an insecure mess, but that’s what her fans love about her. In the new film, she is round again and even less well groomed than ever, which doesn’t seem quite right. Bridget is in love, or at least in lust. I know very few women who don’t glow and almost effortlessly unfrump themselves when this happens. Zellweger is wonderful again in the role. Her accent is better, and she quite believably carries off the volatile mix of insecurity and fierce determination.

This sequel may or may not be as much fun as the original, but Bridget’s unique humor and intelligence is still sharp and engaging. True, Bridget can be quite idiotic - why lie to your boyfriend claiming you can ski when you will be quickly proved a liar? And, the punchlines to some of the jokes aren’t as funny as the buildup. When Bridget calls Mark because she just wants to hear his voice, it is more funny that she’s having a “shag flashback” than it is that she’s on speaker phone when she tells him that.

Most romances, books and movies, end with the star-crossed lovers heading off for a future together. Helen Fielding, the author of the Bridget Jones novels, knows the “the end” is really “the beginning” ñ which is how the first diary ended. The impulse to make the challenges of a fresh relationship “movie worthy” isn’t a task many studios or actors attempt. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, with its mix of farce and more realistic emotional truth, is a successful and very funny entry into this not very large category.

Everything that Bridget doesn’t want in a man is embodied in Richard Gaddis, the character played by John C. Reilly, in Criminal, the American adaptation of the con game film from Argentina, Nine Queens. He’s not just a criminal (Danny Ocean is a criminal, but I think Bridget would be defenseless up against his charms). Richard is selfish, dishonest, greedy, and he cheats even his family. He uses people and preys on their vulnerabilities to make them feel so foolish about what he’s taken from them they can’t do anything about it.

He’s mostly a small-time hood in a very nice suit. When we meet him, he hustles another con man in a casino. Diego Luna (Y tu Mama Tambien) plays that young con man. The two men team up out of need. They knock around Los Angeles making small amounts of cash.

An old colleague of Richard’s contacts him needing help with a really big con. He’s selling a forged 1878 Silver Certificate to an Irish collector named Hannigan (Peter Mullan) who, to avoid severe tax penalties, has to leave the country the next day and so won’t have time to check the authenticity of the statement all that thoroughly. This transaction wouldn’t be smiled upon by the authorities.

There is little trust or honor among these thieves, so there is plenty of risk. The collector is staying in the hotel where Richard’s sister, the family member he’s cheated, works. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Valerie, the sister. Gyllenhaal is fun to watch in any role, but here, in her power suit and sexy, sleazy customer-service mode, she’s unlike the submissive in Secretary or the know it all sister in Donnie Darko.

I love the twists and turns in Criminal. Or rather, I loved them when I first saw them in Nine Queens. And I enjoyed seeing how faithfully they are adapted to an American setting. And I enjoyed the performances and look of the film.

But mostly, I love being fooled. Nine Queens fooled me but good. Having seen the original, Criminal couldn’t do that, so I can’t judge its “foolability” factor. But, if you like being fooled, and you’re subtitle phobic or just missed Nine Queens, Criminal will probably keep you close to the edge of your seat.