Renee Zellweger reunites with old loves Hugh Grant and Colin Firth along with new additions Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall.
Plot: After jumping back into the dating pool, single mother Bridget Jones finds herself caught between a younger man and her son’s science teacher.
Review: Back in 2001, there was some slight controversy surrounding Renee Zellweger being cast as the frumpy, overweight character of Bridget Jones. Known for her svelte physique, the pounds Zellweger gained for the role in the adaptation of the Helen Fielding novel was just the right amount to make the romantic comedy co-starring Hugh Grant and Colin Firth a hit with critics and audiences. The sequels, 2004’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby, brought in less than their predecessor at the box office, with the second film lambasted by critics. The newest entry in the series, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, has arrived directly to Peacock with a global theatrical release slated for outside of North America. Bringing back cast from the three previous films, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy harnesses the genuine humor in the day-to-day life of the title character, who now contends with parental challenges, middle age, and the loss of her husband.
Crash course on Bridget Jones: in the first film, she is a book publisher with a contentious romance with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) while engaging in a more sexual fling with Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). By the film’s end, Bridget and Mark are a couple. In the sequel, Bridget and Mark live together but break up when she suspects he has eyes for another woman. While Daniel reenters her life, the love triangle ends with Bridget and Mark together. The third film finds Mark married to another woman, Daniel, presumed dead after a plane crash, and a new fling with an American, Jack (Patrick Dempsey), and one with Mark that results in Bridget’s pregnancy. That film ended with Mark and Bridget getting married and Daniel being found alive. Bridget’s friends and family remain key throughout the film as she narrates her diary entries with profanity and caustic opinions. At the start of Mad About the Boy, Mark has been dead for four years after a humanitarian aid bombing in the Sudan, leaving Bridget to raise William and Mabel as a single mother and widow.
In the new film, Bridget has stopped writing in her journal, no longer works, and is at her wit’s end managing two rambunctious but sweet kids. On the anniversary of Mark’s death, Bridget’s friends encourage her to get back out and start dating while her doctor (Emma Thompson) pushes her to go back to work. Bridget takes the advice and hires Chloe (Nico Parker), a beautiful young nanny, as she tries to restart her life. While out with the kids, Bridget meets Roxster (Leo Woodall), a handsome young park employee with whom she begins flirting via text. Twenty-five years later, Bridget is still shy, and those around her encourage her to start a relationship with Roxster. Bridget does so while also discovering an adversarial yet flirty dynamic with Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the new science teacher at her children’s school. Reinvigorated, Bridget begins working as a television producer with her friend Miranda (Sarah Solemani) and starts writing in her journal again.
The romance between Bridget and Roxster is cute despite the age gap between the characters, but at no point does it feel like it will last. Leo Woodall has lent solid performances to characters in The White Lotus and the AppleTV+ series Prime Target. Still, he feels like a plot device to facilitate sex jokes and boost the chemistry between Bridget and Mr. Wallaker. The film brings back legacy cast like Jim Broadbent, Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson, James Callis, and Gemma Jones to pad out Bridget’s world. Still, the new additions, including Leila Farzad and a brief cameo from Isla Fisher, help inhabit this new story. Hugh Grant pops in and out of the story more as a familiar face rather than a key element to the story. Colin Firth’s dialogue-free appearances do the most to boost the film’s sentimentality in the right direction. Overall, this film is Renee Zellweger’s showcase as she falls right back into the foul-mouthed sweetness of Bridget Jones.
Directed by Michael Morris, taking over for Sharon Maguire and Beeban Kidron, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy is based on Helen Fielding’s novel of the same name while incorporating elements from the third film, which was an original screenplay not based on one of the novels. The first film was written by Fielding alongside esteemed writers Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice, starring Colin Firth) and Richard Curtis (Love Actually). That trio partnered with Adam Brooks on the second film, while Fielding teamed with Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson on the third. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy was written by Fielding, Mazer, and acclaimed British television writer Abi Morgan. The script is very funny and captures Fielding’s vision of Bridget Jones while expanding away from just being about sex and dating to give us a heartfelt story about a woman two decades later than we first met, dealing with the loss of the love of her life. This film does not diminish Colin Firth’s character in the least but shows that death does not mean the end of the life of those who felt that loss. It is a well-made story that Zellweger is even better than she was twenty years ago.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy spends so much time with the title character pursuing a young, hot guy that it occasionally feels like it caters to the middle-aged audience who grew up with the original film rather than sticking with the genuine elements brought by the rest of the film. This film clearly does not target my demographic. However, I still found a lot to enjoy in the movie, especially with Renee Zellweger’s great performance, which feels genuine, realistic, and very funny. I do wish they had spent more time building the relationship between Bridget and Mr. Wallaker than they did. Still, the callbacks to characters, events, and props from the three prior films give fans of the series a lot to look for and dig into, with great supporting turns from the entire ensemble. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy is a perfect rom-com that should be playing on the big screen this weekend instead of on Peacock, but I have no doubt many couples will be streaming this from home on Valentine’s Day.
