SNEAK A PEEK AT THIS 'DIARY'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

When the English describe something as adequate, they usually mean it disparagingly.

But when this straight-shootin' American tells you that the film version of ``Bridget Jones's Diary'' is done as adequately as it could possibly be, you can rest assured that I'm being complimentary.

Well, as complimentary as I possibly can be, considering the circumstances.

As you probably know, the movie's popular source book charts the misadventures of an unmarried London woman in her 30s who drinks too much, wrestles with calories, can't get a relationship to work and continually embarrasses herself in both intimate and public settings. A kind of generational touchstone - author Helen Fielding's word for folks in Bridget's situation, ``singletons,'' is now part of the British lexicon - ``Diary'' has achieved a certain sacred status in the UK, while Bridget has come to represent a universal kind of neurotic pluckiness for the rest of us.

No reason to think it wouldn't make an OK movie, until you check the specs. The director, Sharon Maguire, has not made a feature film before; she's also a pal of executive producer Fielding, and was the model for one of Bridget's drinking buddies in the book. More alarming, perhaps, is the fact that the wilty English rose herself is played by Renee Zellweger, a daughter of (non-British) Europeans but as Texas as that state is big - not to mention, as we're used to seeing her on screen, fashionably slinky.

But not to worry. Maguire does have an impressive background in documentary production, and that coupled with her obviously extensive knowledge of the whole Jones milieu lends every moment of the film - even in its most contrived comic and romantic situations, which are both plentiful - emotional and sociological authenticity.

And Zellweger? Some Brits may quibble - although early reactions from across the pond have been remarkably accepting - but boy, can that girl act. Sounds totally English to these ears (she worked with Gwyneth Paltrow's coach); gained what they would probably call a stone (translation: a bunch of pounds) and, even more courageously, poured herself into too much that's too tight and too short.

Most important, though, Zellweger embodies that uniquely feminine aspect of the stiff-upper-lip spirit that makes Bridget a heroine to root for rather than the insufferable, whining pill she could so easily have become.

Plus, Hugh Grant gets beat up, which makes the film slightly better than adequate.

He's actually quite good as Daniel Cleaver, publicist Bridget's lusted- after, publishing company boss. After skimpier and skimpier attempts to catch his eye, Bridget finally strikes up an e-mail flirtation with Daniel. Following a typically disastrous performance at a book launch party (where she's amusingly roped into a discussion of the novella format with Salman Rushdie, who's played by none other than Salman Rushdie), Bridge gets, um, comforted by Daniel.

Although he all but tells her what a worthless cad he is, and she tells us that she's wise to that in a diaristic voice-over before they so much as smooch, Bridget allows herself to be swept into serious relationship dreamland with Daniel.

When he predictably displays his dreadfulness, the likeliest rebound prospect is the ever-popping up, divorced barrister Mark Darcy (played by Colin Firth as kind of an in-joke for Jane Austen fans). Almost pathologically glum, Darcy was a childhood acquaintance of Bridget's whom she bitterly dislikes. You don't need to have read the book to know where this is going, even if the ending of the film is somewhat different.

In the kingdom of modern romantic comedies, ``Diary'' is much higher up on the evolutionary scale than such behaviorally bogus drivel as ``Someone Like You.'' It trades heavily in the comedy of degradation, but goes mercifully light on the snickering nastiness that marks so many teen-age romcoms these days. This is all minorly miraculous, since the movie does not shy away from darkness; Maguire and her screenwriters, who include ``Four Weddings and a Funeral'' groomer Richard Curtis, just have a knack for tiptoeing around excessive cruelty.

On the other hand, Bridget's parents (Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones) could certainly have been drawn less ridiculously, and her encounters with the dreaded smug marrieds are too cartoonish to be effective. Overall, the movie seems to be missing a certain psychological gravity. Zellweger and Maguire do a fine job of making loneliness fun to watch in ``Bridget Jones's Diary''; they could have made it funnier, though, had they not been so eager to be liked.

``BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY''

(Rated R: language, sex, comic violence)

The stars: Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Sharon Maguire. Written by Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis, based on Fielding's book. Produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Jonathan Cavendish. Released by Miramax Films.

Running time: One hour, 34 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Three stars

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Renee Zellweger stars in ``Bridget Jones's Diary,'' about a plucky young British woman looking for love.