BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY/BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON/BRIDGET JONES'S BABY: A SLICK TRIPLE FIX OF CHICK FLICK MOVIE REVIEWS BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY. (2001) BASED ON THE 1996 NOVEL BY HELEN FIELDING. DIRECTED BY SHARON MAGUIRE. STARRING RENEE ZELLWEGER, COLIN FIRTH, HUGH GRANT, SALLY PHILLIPS, SHIRLEY HENDERSON, JAMES CALLIS, JIM BROADBENT, GEMMA JONES, JAMES FAULKNER AND CELIA IMRIE.
BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON. (2004) DIRECTED BY BEEBAN KIDRON. BASED ON THE 1996 NOVEL BY HELEN FIELDING. STARRING RENEE ZELLWEGER, COLIN FIRTH, HUGH GRANT, SALLY PHILLIPS, SHIRLEY HENDERSON, JAMES CALLIS, JIM BROADBENT, GEMMA JONES, JAMES FAULKNER AND CELIA IMRIE... AGAIN...!
BRIDGET JONES'S BABY. (2017) DIRECTED BY SHARON MAGUIRE. BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED BY HELEN FIELDING. STARRING RENEE ZELLWEGER, COLIN FIRTH, PATRICK DEMPSEY, SALLY PHILLIPS, SHIRLEY HENDERSON, JAMES CALLIS, JIM BROADBENT, GEMMA JONES, JAMES FAULKNER AND CELIA IMRIE...ALSO FEATURING EMMA THOMPSON AND ED SHEERAN AS HIMSELF...!
Everyone concerned must have made a mint from this hugely successful franchise. Women were reading these books while FIFTY SHADES OF GREY was still only a twinkle in E.L. James's eye, reading them and identifying with Bridget, the thirty-something singleton who has trouble losing weight, cutting down on the booze and fags and finding the man of her dreams. Well, we all have trouble with that, lol.
Renee Zellweger did such a good job of portraying the scatter-brained, accident-prone Bridget, who never opens her mouth without putting her foot squarely in it, that the critics eventually had to stop bitching about the fact that she's an American, playing a woman who's as English as tea with the Queen. Not that I've ever been invited...!
In the original film, Bridget works at a book publishing company and fancies her boss, the attractive but utterly caddish Daniel Cleaver, played by Hugh Grant at his foppiest. Posh plummy accent, floppy hair and the confidence that comes with a sense of entitlement and having been born with a silver spoon in one's mouth. Bridget isn't confident at all really. She has terribly low self-esteem and doesn't realise that she is actually too good for him and not the other way around.
Bridget also develops feelings for Mark Darcy in this film. Mark is played by Colin Firth and is an uptight, humourless lawyer and family friend of Bridget's parents. He famously turns up to Bridget's dotty Mum's Annual Turkey Curry Buffet wearing a novelty Christmas jumper that makes him look a right arse. I personally think that Bridget's too good for this stiff-necked twat as well, but she has deep feelings for him so I guess that that's that, lol.
Mark and Daniel hate each others' guts, which complicates matters for Bridget. It takes Bridget nearly the whole film to work out how she really feels about both men, a film that sees other lovers flit in and out of the picture, a thrilling fight scene occur between the two romantic leads and Bridget dramatically quitting her job working for Daniel Cleaver with the immortal words: 'I'd rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein's arse (than go on working for you)'.
I personally love the gorgeous climax in the winter snow, the great soundtrack (which I own) and the scene where the lonely, depressed Bridget is alone in her messy flat, slobbishly dressed in the red pyjamas and singing along to the song 'All By Myself,' tunelessly at the top of her lungs. Oh Bridget, we've all been there, even down to the red pyjamas...
BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON is a good film but it's not as good as the rather superlative first film, the original chick-lit movie. Bridget is thrilled with herself to be going out with posh lawyer toff Mark Darcy but she feels like she's always falling short of the mark when it comes to being a posh lawyer toff's girlfriend.
She can't get anything right, it seems, added to which Mark's got this posh bird Rebecca perpetually hanging around him like a bad smell. Even if there's nothing going on between them as Mark alleges, it's still a bit insensitive of him to always have her glued to his side. Women can get very suspicious about mens' 'friendships' with other women who also happen to be stunningly beautiful and stick-thin. Humph.
Things get a bit silly when Bridget hares off to Thailand for her job in television alongside Daniel Cleaver, her old boyfriend who betrayed her in the first film. He's as sleazy and full of shit as ever, telling Bridget that they should go to bed together for old times' sake or something like that. Once a pervy sex maniac, always a pervy sex maniac, eh?
They have to work together on a telly travel programme, only that all goes tits-up when Bridget ends up in a Thai prison for allegedly trafficking cocaine. She winds up teaching the culture-starved female inmates the words and actions to Madonna songs, so being in a foreign nick isn't as bad as we've been led to believe by films like MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, lol, but she still wouldn't want to spend the next twenty years there. Now, who does she know who's a good lawyer...?
BRIDGET JONES'S BABY is a big return to form for the girly comedy franchise. I absolutely loved it, especially as I'd acquired it for free with my BOOTS loyalty card points. A free film is always great, haha. This good-quality second sequel proves that Bridget Jones has stood the test of time, and that Bridget can be lifted out of the early 'Noughties where we first encountered her and transplanted into the Age of the Instagram Account without any real difficulty or annoying feelings of disjointedness.
The film opens at a funeral. Whose is it? Remember Daniel Cleaver? Well, Bridget's old beau has apparently died in a plane crash. His death 'has hit the Eastern European teenage modelling community hard,' as is observed at his funeral. Will the franchise be as successful without Mister Floppy Hair? This, folks, remains to be seen.
The film opens at a funeral. Whose is it? Remember Daniel Cleaver? Well, Bridget's old beau has apparently died in a plane crash. His death 'has hit the Eastern European teenage modelling community hard,' as is observed at his funeral. Will the franchise be as successful without Mister Floppy Hair? This, folks, remains to be seen.
Later in the film, Bridget unexpectedly finds herself pregnant at forty-three with two possible candidates for the father. These are: Mark Darcy, her former lover who's going through a possible divorce from his wife at the moment (he married someone other than Bridget??? The bastard!!!) and Jack Qwant, an Internet billionaire with whom Bridget has sex at a music festival. Tsk tsk, Bridget! You loose woman, you. They are 'glamping' in 'yurts.' Don't panic, folks, it's only a fancy hipster term for camping...!
Both men are informed of their possible impending fatherhood. Hilarious japes ensue when both men accompany Bridget to pre-natal classes and are mistaken for a gay couple and their surrogate mum. Emma Thompson does a very funny turn here as Bridget's obstetrician, who has to do two scans on Bridget's baby, one with Mark in attendance and the other with Jack, neither of them knowing yet about the other.
Ed Sheeran also has a really funny cameo as Himself at the music festival, and the tension as we wait to find out the identity of Bridget's Baby-Daddy is almost palpable. So is it stuffed shirt Mark Darcy, or smarmy billionaire Jack? Whom does Bridget herself want it to be? Oh, and by the way, guess who didn't die in a plane crash after all? I smell another sequel. Which is great, because the world can always use more Bridget Jones. Bring it on.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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