Bridget Jones’s Baby
Starring: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey
Directed By: Sharon Maguire
Written By: Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer, Emma Thompson
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi
[rating: 3.5/5]
I can now officially say that viewing a Rom Com in a room of screaming middle aged women is probably the ideal way to watch the genre. Sure there was wine, cupcakes and I may have won an ugly sweater by unapologetically screaming out answers to Bridget Jones trivia (fed to me by my friend) but it was the atmosphere of joy in seeing a film with its intended audience that really elevated the experience for me. That and the film itself is actually way better than I was expecting.

Bridget Jones’s Baby is exactly what you would want and expect from a Bridget Jones movie. Gone are the Thai prisons and back is Renee Zellweger giving her most charming, most British, and more awkward self as a mid-40s Bridget Jones trying her best not to completely screw everything up. I was surprised at how nostalgic the whole experience was, seeing this delightful character still not have her shit together and struggling like the rest of us. Bridget and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) didn’t have their fairy tale ending and as a result Bridget has focused on her work and built a career for herself. We have her old comrades, exciting new friends and a potential new love interest in the annoying handsome Jack (Patrick Dempsey).  We have Bridget going tits over heels, we have scathing male rivalry and, most importantly, we have surprisingly emotional and heartfelt declarations of love that might even make the most stone-hearted get a little misty eyed.

This film, however, will not be for everyone. If you’re looking for something that is going to break traditional Rom-Com formula or even do something new and exciting then this isn’t the film for you. Bridget Jones’s Baby confirms almost too-strictly to the Romantic Comedy status-quo, a time-capsule sent to us from 2004 to remind us of what the traditional ol’ Rom Com used to be like before the Nicholas Sparks phenomenon monopolised the Romance genre. It also teeters dangerously on that cheese-factor line where things might get a little too camp. Sure, no Thai prisoners break into singing Madonna, but there is a surprisingly extended cameo from a British pop-star that started getting a little on the nose. There are also potentially some troubling messages about work/life priorities that were probably unintentional but getting into those takes us too far into spoiler territory. Still, none of this truly detracts from the movie. You’ve seen Bridget Jones already, if you haven’t you have no business watching this and if you have then you already know what to expect.

Bridget Jones’s Baby is the movie your mother has been waiting for. Seriously, go treat her or an Aunt, or even an older Sister, to a night out at the flicks and you’re guaranteed to have a ball/die of embarrassment as they cackle away next to you. It’s nothing terribly new or exciting, but it builds well on the story and characters established way back in 2001 with a nice little ending to think about as the rest of us lonely souls sit in our pyjamas, eat a bucket of ice-cream and belt out some Celine Dion.