Not surprisingly, as the new addition to the “Bridget Jones” franchise, Dempsey admitted “I was a little nervous in the beginning, because of the history and the success of the films and the characters in the novels and all that”.
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The magic is back when our clumsy but lovable heroine (Renee Zellweger) finds herself caught in another love triangle.
A more correct title would actually be “Bridget Jones’s Pregnancy”, because the movie is really about determining who the father is and who Bridget is going to end up with when the credits roll. For the hopeless romantic in all of us middle-aged, frumpy working women, Bridget is the voice in our heads and she vocalizes all the things we dare not.
So when Bridget discovers she’s pregnant, she doesn’t know who the father is, Jack or Mark.
It’s nearly as if Zellweger went full method and locked herself away for the sake of the new movie’s opening scene, where Jones is sitting alone in her flat, a birthday cupcake in front of her, while Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself” blares on her stereo. In this third installment, she appears to have several choices.
Renee Zellweger has revealed that the third Bridget Jones movie Bridget Jones’s Baby borrowed ideas from One Born Every Minute, and that the show set on a maternity ward helped her get some “insight” into the process. Her two male suitors are both great in this film.
Mark has been the constant throughout all this and, after all, his character was very deliberately based on that of a certain other Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.
It’s lovely to see two such eligible bachelors competing for a woman who’s over 40.
That’s likely due to the fact that Sharon Maguire, who directed the practically ideal “Bridget Jones’s Diary”, is back (Beeban Kidron directed the second), working from a script from author Helen Fielding, Emma Thompson (very amusing as an unamused doctor) and Dan Mazer. She didn’t work on the second film, so her deft touch was obviously missed. While the plot is not exactly logical, it has plenty of laugh-out-loud moments.
Bridget refuses the amniocentesis from her OB-GYN (a ideal Emma Thompson, whose appearance alone makes the movie worth it). Jim Broadbent plays Dad and Sally Phillips returns as Shazza. Kate O’Flynn plays a controlling younger boss who wants to make their news programs more entertaining. At least her professional life is better than ever; she’s now the producer of Hard News. Renee has a very satisfying soliloquy toward the end of the film.
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The baby could be Darcy’s or Jack’s.
