Saturday 17 September 2016

FILM REVIEW: BRIDGET JONES'S BABY



Universal Pictures

Bridget Jones is back! That is, the Bridget from the first film, 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary, and not the seemingly brain-damaged Bridget from the 2004 sequel Edge of Reason.

A little older (aren't we all) if not much wiser, Bridget (Renee Zellweger) is once again single; her relationship with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) having ended in the interim with the human rights lawyer now married to someone else.

And what of Hugh Grant's pervy publisher Daniel Cleaver? He's out of the picture -- literally. (Grant opting to make a film with Meryl Streep rather than return to this franchise.)

But Bridget, now with a successful career behind the scenes of television news, still finds herself preoccupied with the competing attentions of two men: Darcy, and online romance guru Jack Quant (Patrick Dempsey), one of whom is the father of Bridget's unexpected and wholly unplanned for baby.

Mildly amusing, Bridget Jones's Baby succeeds mostly on the audience's prior relationship with, and good will towards Bridget. You can't help but root for the hopelessly romantic singleton who is often her own worst enemy. And Zellweger, who hasn't been seen on screen lately, easily slips back into the role; once again nailing the accent and making us care about a woman who, now in her 40s, refuses to give up on the idea of Prince Charming (Bechdel Test be damned!).

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