Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016) Directed by Sharon Maguire. Starring: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey. IMDB says: “Bridget’s focus on single life and her career is interrupted when she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch … she can only be fifty percent sure of the identity of her baby’s father.”
I adore Bridget Jones. She’s sharp, witty, and a bit vulgar. She isn’t perfect, often making terrible decisions, delivering word vomit, and being endearingly clumsy. A lot of these traits apply to much lesser romantic comedy heroines, but something about Bridget just works so much better. Revisiting Bridget Jones’s Diary is like cuddling up on the sofa in pajamas with a cup of coffee to me. It’s just a lovely, funny film that’s better plotted and more romantic than most others in the genre.
Revisiting the characters had a sort of comfort level here that instantly put a smile on my face but it didn’t automatically give this movie the upper hand. Reservations were necessary because Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason was definitely subpar to the original. The comedy was broader and disappointingly resorted to slapstick at every opportunity. Of course some of that was in the original, but it was weaved in naturally and comedy arose far more from the script. The Edge of Reason was essentially a rehash of the first movie with her two love interests – the dashing, womanizer Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) and the uptight, surprise charmer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) putting in their efforts as in the first movie. In the end she reunites with Mark Darcy with the promise of happily ever after. Baby however starts with the realization that they didn’t make it and she’s currently single. Although this one features a similar love triangle set up (although unfortunately without the presence of Grant), it’s at least not a copy of the first two movies.
Bridget Jones, who actually has her career as a news producer on a steady track and has achieved her ideal weight, heads off on a girl’s weekend that ends in a one-night tryst with a handsome stranger, Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey). Within a week she finds herself in a passionate reunion with Mark Darcy, that she decides shouldn’t re-spark the relationship due to their past failures. She finds out however that she is pregnant, but has no idea which of the men is actually the father and the story sets out from there as each of the men try to step up to fill the shoes. It’s not just a simple question of paternity, but a consideration into which, if either, of the two men she wants to stay with. Meanwhile, Bridget balances her career, friendships with all her pals from the previous movies who are now married parents, and her own parents. Renée Zellweger returns to the character with great charisma, showing she hasn’t lost her comedic edge or great understanding of Bridget herself, showing just the right amount of maturation.
A down point of this film is that the love triangle doesn’t quite have the same fire without Cleaver’s presence. Of course he was a shit, but he was an interesting one. I haven’t seen Patrick Dempsey in much, but here he is dull and his acting is very stilted. At points I honestly wasn’t sure if he was supposed to come off as a psychopath or if that was accidental. He never filled Grant’s shoes but at least they aren’t trying to make him into the same kind of character. He’s not a Lothario type and seems like more of a nice guy (looking past all the probably unintentional but still eerily creepy moments) to compete against Darcy. I not only wasn’t really feeling him, but it made Grant’s presence all the more missed. It doesn’t help that Darcy has always been an intriguing character with many sides.
This isn’t the freshest movie, there’s some retreaded ground and some of the jokes were tone deaf, but it was an improvement over The Edge of Reason. Emma Thompson did a script rewrite which I’m sure helped make it much sharper, while she also appears as Bridget’s gynecologist. A good amount of humor mixed with heartwarming moments make this a worthwhile revisit. It’s also an interesting angle of an older woman having a baby which is not often (ever?) really seen on film. If you’re a fan of Bridget Jones like me, you’ll have a pleasant time with this sequel and guessing til the end how it will all play out.
FTS SCORE: 70%
Bridget Jones’s Baby
is currently in theaters nationwide.