The first Bridget Jones movie, which came out in 2001, broke ground for featuring an overweight, clumsy woman who couldn’t keep her shirt tucked in as the girl who had 2 good looking, successful men fighting over her. 15 years later, Bridget may have wrinkles, but she still gets the guy.
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At first, it sounds like a stretch: “Bridget Jones’s Baby”?
Zellweger explained she spent her free time going to her nieces’ and nephews’ school plays, and going back to take some college classes – to which Harris admitted he wanted to do.
Bridget Jones stands on her own far more in this film than the previous two, with most of the supporting characters-from best friend Miranda (Sarah Solemani) to Darcy and Qwant-simply along for well-timed banter or convenient plot devices.
She has a good time with Jack and goes on her way. This concept is what makes “Bridget Jones’s Baby” movie amusing, witty and romantic as ever. As we have known, Bridget Jones is a 40 year old single Brit. She has a tryst with Dempsey’s banal online-dating guru at a music festival one week, only to hook up with her ex Darcy the next. While Zellweger slips easily enough back into the role – the snarky speculation about her appearance notwithstanding – the “Which dreamboat will she pick?” meme certainly qualifies as a high-class problem.
Now she has two admittedly likable suitors who have an equal chance of being the father and a job that has gotten more stressful by the second. She makes falling in the mud look sexy. Is this a fantasy, or is this just men being kind to the woman who is possibly carrying their child? That doesn’t happen all that much on-screen.
Still, the change of pace seems to have re-energized her. Zellweger, Firth and Dempsey make a merry go of it.
Debates still continue over whether the Bridget Jones series is feminist in any sense, and the answer can only be “yes and no”.
Still, Bridget Jones’s Baby is a fun distraction.
The third installment to the “Bridget Jones’s Diary” movie back in 2001 has just hit the theatres and it has been getting nothing but praises from the audience, even scoring a flawless score on a prestigious critic site, Rotten Tomatoes.
Zellweger is deft at physical comedy, whether she is stumbling through mud or fumbling through a work presentation, but she also brings a sweetness to Bridget that makes it hard not to side with her even when she makes awful choices.
Director Sharon Maguire (reprising that role from the original) wrings what humor she can from what feels like an awfully familiar, bordering-on-tired premise for a romantic comedy.
A certain inconsistency is understandable, given that the script is credited to several writers with little in common, including bad-taste specialist Dan Mazer (Dirty Grandpa), and accredited national treasure Emma Thompson, who also plays Bridget’s no-nonsense doctor. Distributed by Universal Pictures. Running time: 122 minutes.
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Parent’s guide: PG-13 (language, sex, nudity).
