This probably went unnoticed because the film version of Edge of Reason went so far off the rails. For instance: Instead of Rebecca being presented as the schemer whom Fielding's readers know her to be (conversing with her, Bridget says, is like swimming with a jellyfish—"all will be going along perfectly pleasantly then suddenly you get a painful lashing, destroying confidence at stroke"), she was turned into an earnest lesbian whose unrequited crush on Bridget was played for laughs. Here's Rebecca attempting to snare the unsuspecting Mr. Darcy, after he expresses frustration with Bridget's self-help book collection:
"Oh, I quite agree," she gushed. "I have no time for all that stuff. If I decide I love someone then nothing will stand in my way. Nothing. Not friends, not theories. I just follow my instincts, follow my heart," she said in a new, simpery voice, like a flower girl-child of nature.
"I respect you for that," said Mark quietly.
Here's the original conversation between Captain Wentworth and his admirer Louisa Musgrove, regarding an inseparable couple of their acquaintance:
"I should do just the same in her place. If I loved a man as she loves the Admiral, I would be always with him, nothing should ever separate us ...." "Had you?" cried he, catching the same tone: "I honor you!"
Okay, maybe not the most exciting stuff—and certainly nothing to Bridget's imprisonment in Thailand (a storyline that has no Austen precedent that I'm aware of). But to a true Austen fan, it's hilarious, spot-on parody that both updates and celebrates the original. Anne and Frederick are initially separated after a friend advises Anne to reconsider his proposal—much like Mark begins to drift away from Bridget after her similarly self-help-addicted friends persuade her that he is, among other things, "a Martian rubber-band" (from Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus).
Too many people use the same source material for the wrong reasons—taking advantage of Austen's renewed popularity and the fact that her books are in the public domain. They terrorize the Bennet sisters with attacks from the undead, in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. They use her to elevate their own muddled romantic comedy storylines by highlighting faint parallels between modern characters and Austen heroines, as in The Jane Austen Book Club.
A good update of Austen can stand on its own. You don't have to know that hapless Giles Benwick—whom Bridget converts to the self-help religion—is today's answer to James Benwick, the tragic naval officer mourning for his dead fiancée and whom only Anne can comfort. When you watch Clueless, you don't have to know that the good-natured stoner Travis is too-hastily dismissed by Cher in a way that echoes humble farmer Robert Martin and Emma Woodhouse. The situation is funny and entertaining regardless.