Silver continued, “The first movie, Bridget Jones’
Diary, arrived in 2001, which was at the zenith of Sex in the City-mania. Like
SATC, the franchise has continued into its third decade, first with the heroine
settling down with one of her long-term male suitors. And now, also like Sex
and the City’s sequel series And Just Like That, the Jones film series has the
protagonist (Renee Zellweger) in her early-50s, and single again after the
death of her husband.”
The new movie, “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,”
released last month on Peacock, and it’s decent – enough that it probably deserved
at least an obligatory theatrical, like it got in the U.K. The previous movies
were all box office hits. The film skillfully ties among laughs that are
faithful to the franchise, callback and fan service, and pulling at the
heartstrings. Most of the fan-favorite side characters in the previous movies,
from Emma Thompson’s gynecologist to Sarah Solemani’s news anchor, also return.
Silver noted, ‘Colin Firth’s Mark Darcy was always
depicted as a prince of a guy, much more so than his fellow dead husband, Mr.
Big.” However, as the movie starts, we find out that Darcy passed away four
years earlier while doing humanitarian work in Darfur, leaving Bridget with two
young children, even though Firth appears in a couple of flashbacks.
As the movie starts, Bridget is mourning not only her
husband but also her father, reprised by Jim Broadbent, who passed way more
recently but encouraged her to start living life again, both by going back to
work and getting back into dating. However, despite the last film, “Bridget
Jones’s Baby,” saying that Hugh Grant’s dishonorable old flame, Daniel Cleaver,
was himself dead, the revival Grant is back in this film, having faked his
death.
The two don’t get back together, but she’s there to
help him make up for his life of jerkiness, and take a chance at reconnecting
with his estranged son. Grant’s handful of scenes are mainly the highlights of
the film.
Instead, we’re back to the first film’s formula of
Bridget, stuck between two mean while occasionally having funny public
embarrassments. This time, her possible men are a much younger, frequently
shirtless park ranger (Leo Woodall) and her child’s teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
Nothing surprising happens, and some callbacks are legitimately
emotional. Silver noted, “The new movie’s dropping of its heroine into
early-50s singledom is done much more smoothly, and less awkwardly, than the
And Just Like That version.”
Silver continued, “A whole book—and possibly a You
Must Remember This season—could probably be produced about the career travails
of Renee Zellweger and what they say about the treatment of actresses of a
certain age. She was cast as Bridget Jones a quarter century ago, at a time
when both her weight gain for the part and her non-Britishness were treated as
major controversies, as was the time in 2014 when she showed up on a red carpet
looking unlike herself.”
Silver went on, “Her big comeback role came in 2019’s
Judy, where she won an Oscar for playing Judy Garland in a performance much
better than the movie that contained it.” However, for some reason, six years
later, the new Bridget Jones is her first movie role of any type since. As always,
she’s a great on-screen actress and was the right choice to play Bridget from
way back then.
This was a surprise, just like the last sequel. However,
I think people will get into this one more so than the last one. However, with
what happens during the end credits, I think they have honestly ended the
franchise off. Watch this on Peacock when you get the chance and have a fun
time with it.
Thank you for joining in on “Bridget Jones’s Month.” I
hope everyone enjoyed it and hopefully everyone has seen the franchise now.
Stay tuned next month to see what I will review next.
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