Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget Jones's Diary
April 13, 2001
Miramax/Univeral/etc.
Comedy, Romance
DVD
B-

My review of the book is here:  http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2013/10/bridget-joness-diary.html.  And, yes, I'm giving the movie the same grade, a B-.  Due to the time it took for adaptation, and the decision to put Bridget in her "32nd year" (actually, she turns 33 later that year), she is in this incarnation very close to the age I was at the time I first saw the movie.  (Well, first and second, since I went with two different sets of friends.)  So I am to some degree looking back at pre-middle-age and shaking my head.  That desperation to please is not exactly something I relate to anymore.  And even at the time, well, Helen Fielding's heroine was more of a screw-up than anyone I knew.  She's based on Lizzie Bennet, but Lizzie never fell off an exercise bike.

Renée Zellweger makes an appealing lead, yes, despite being the wrong weight and nationality.  She brings out Bridget's vulnerability, and the movie is much sweeter than the book.  To balance this, much of the entertaining cynicism, including against the Smug Marrieds, is lost.  I also found the soundtrack and some of the directing choices (as in the street-fighting scene) overly manipulative.  Like Bridget, the movie tries too hard to please, and ends up pleasing less than if it had relaxed more.

There's no question that you have to watch this one for the cast.  (And I had to pare down my tags due to space limitations.)  Whether it's spotting not only Salman Rushdie but J. K. Rowling at the literary party (Jo is in plaid and has no lines but it is unmistakably her, at a time when her face was not yet as internationally famous as it'd become), or savoring the Austensibly perfectly cast Colin Firth as a modern Mr. Darcy and the no-Edward-Ferrars Hugh Grant as his charming cad rival, there's always someone to watch in addition to Zellweger.  I would've liked more of Bridget's best friends:  James Callis as Tom, Shirley Henderson as Jude, and Sally Phillips as Shazza.  But they Zellweger, Firth, and Grant would return for the sequel, Edge of Reason, as would Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent as Bridget's parents, and James Faulkner and Celia Imrie as Uncle Geoffrey and Aunt Una Alconbury.  Ms. Rowling aside, there are obviously some Harry Potter connections as well as Jane Austen connections, with the future Moaning Myrtle crying in the bathroom being the most notable.

Campbell Graham would also play Hamish in the sequel, as well as a Ministry Wizard in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  Ray Donn, who's a Journalist here, would be a customer in the sequel, as well as a Limo Driver in Bride & Prejudice.  Donald Douglas, who plays Mark's father Mr. Darcy, would be promoted to Admiral Darcy for the sequel.  Neil Pearson would return as Bridget's boss at Sit Up Britain, Richard Finch, while Dominic McHale would be back as Bernard.  Crispin Bonham-Carter (distant cousin of Helena) isn't in any my other movies, but TV's Mr. Bingley can be spotted as one of the delighted office workers in the scene where Bridget tells off Daniel.

Fielding, Richard Curtis (who also wrote The Tall Guy), and Andrew Davies (of Firth's P & P) would all co-write the BJD sequel, but Sharon Maguire (the sort of inspiration for Shazzer) would be replaced as director.