Directed by Sharon Maguire, the Bridget Jones’s Baby finds Bridget unexpectedly expecting. However, now poised to return to the spotlight full-force after a six-year absence, Zellweger circles back to the character with Bridget Jones’s Baby, and thankfully, the resulting film actually marks a return to form for the franchise.
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While we last saw her still muddling about between her Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth) and Hugh Grant’s total cad and making an in-the-end decision to marry her Darcy, she is years later a woman still bruised from that fairy tale match ending in a breakup.
Jones has one-night stands with both men, getting pregnant by one of them and setting off a competition between the suitors to prove their worth as potential fathers-and win Jones’s heart in the process. Shockingly, it seems as though Bridget has learned to live in the moment. So she’s quite happy when her friend Miranda (Sarah Solemani) insists they attend one of those enormous British rock fests.
Oscar victor Zellweger is an American who moved to London to prepare for her role in the movie. It begins with Bridget, single and childless at 43, sitting alone in her flat on her birthday, with a glass of wine and a cake with a single candle, singing along to “All By Myself”. Also attending the service is the second love of her life, Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth.
The American Patrick Dempsey is put in the chump role – his character is sensitive, thoughtful and an internet billionaire and thus no match for the stuck up, emotionally frigid Darcy. At the time, she told PEOPLE: “I’m glad folks think I look different”.
What follows is a slightly overlong sitcom as Bridget tries to juggle two potential dads until a paternity test can decide, but the cast makes even the routine stuff sparkle.
This relatable (if somewhat aspirational) character comes not just from Zellweger’s performance, but also from the assured direction of Sharon Maguire, who helmed “Bridget Jones’s Diary” in 2001, as well as the fast, fresh, and very amusing screenplay. But who is the father? By analyzing “Still Falling for You”, the end credit song to Bridget Jones’s Baby, writer Olivia Truffaut-Wong discovers that the song’s lyrics bear a resemblance to Bridget and Mark’s relationship.
Once again, our Bridget is basically a modern-day Austen heroine, which means two men must battle for her affections.
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‘Bridget Jones’s Baby, ‘ a sequel that has been in the works for over ten years now, is finally ready to hit theaters. While the character of Bridget herself is an involving, realistically drawn Everywoman, the stories that bind come pretty squarely in the wish-fulfillment variety, just soaked in Gen-X irony.
