Bridget Jones’s Baby hits theatres from 14 September (16). In the first movie, when you see her first fall in love with both of them, I think that she seems to be needier in terms of having a partner and being gratified in love. Thereafter, she met up again with Mark. How this came to be takes up nearly the first hour of Bridget Jones’s Baby. “There’s such a sweetness to who she is, such as purity to who she is as a person, that I wasn’t really thinking ‘Tart'”.
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You should be so lucky as to let Bridget Jones and her filthy mouth, charming love interests, confused body positivity, and unwavering hope shine a little light into your cynical life. Enter a ridiculously young and brash new boss (Kate O’Flynn) who brings in her own army of man-bunned young blades with a view to sinking all content into the gutter for ratings and clicks. The only thing that works in this mess is Emma Thompson at her very best as the obstetrician.
Zellweger said she and Firth brushed up on their characters by revisiting “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason”.
Will audiences be happy with who the father turns out to be? Darcy winces and says, “How can I help?” You won’t regret taking “Bridget Jones’s Baby” out for a spin. This is Bridget’s story, and the man is just gravy. So we can get away with it. Firth’s stoic Darcy is the ideal foil to the outgoing Bridget, while Dempsey’s Jack is such a catch, you nearly want him to get the girl. At 43, Bridget has lost the excess weight she gained for the first two films, and looks quite fetching.
Now she’s back, could a fourth film be on the horizon? She’s looking at a lonely future. Is he the father of the baby in the title? She can be a big kid at work, but she values professional integrity above dignity.
In the 2001 original, director Sharon Maguire (Incendiary), with a background in documentaries and music videos, tried to get us to laugh with Bridget more than we were laughing at her as she found herself the apex in a romantic triangle of embarrassment.
It does take a while to get used to Zellweger’s new appearance because Bridget is normally a bit rounder but this time she is slim and the reason is only mentioned in passing. 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.
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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. I’ll wager that in the sequel yet to come, Bridget will renegotiate Brexit, with Darcy as her legal eagle.
