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Bridget Jones’ Diary

Rating

Director

Sharon Maguire

Screenplay

Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis (Novel: Helen Fielding)

Length

1h 37m

Starring

Renée Zellweger, Gemma Jones, Celia Imrie, James Faulkner, Jim Broadbent, Colin Firth, Charmian May, Hugh Grant, Paul Brooke, Felicity Notagu, Shirley Henderson, Sally Phillips, James Callis

MPAA Rating

R

Review

A socially inept woman with an unlucky romantic history finds herself involved with two very different men in Sharon Maguire’s romantic comedy “Bridget Jones’s Diary”.

Renee Zellweger stars as Bridget Jones, a public relations worker at a publishing firm. She works under Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), a brash, depraved social climber with plenty of social graces and limited emotional responsibility. When the two develop an office relationship, Bridget soon discovers that even the most seemingly perfect romantic relationships can be filled with sacrifices and heartbreak.

Early in the film, she meets her other romantic interest, Marc Darcy (Colin Firth), who is dressed in a hideous reindeer sweater. He manages to insult Bridget causing long-term animosity between them.

The film pursues the emotional involvement of the characters in the film, attempting to explain the plights of the common woman trying to find true love in an age of chauvinism and infidelity.

Zellweger gives a touching and hilarious performance as the romantically inept employee. She gives a sense of urgency to her search for a man who will not only treat her right, but won’t cheat on her. Proof of comic timing comes from a scene where she’s introducing fellow employee Kenneth Fitzherbert and she mistakenly substitutes her secret nickname for him.

In addition to Zellweger, Grant gives a credible performance as the insensitive and immature boss who Bridget falls in love with. Much of the negative press lends to his believability, but his own talent shines through plainly. The rest of the cast play their parts with little effort and simply add to the overall excellence of the film.

The screenplay examines Bridget’s life with both humor and humility. Each facet is studied and turned into a joke for which there is no option but to laugh. The story is not only interesting, but topical with the ability to capture reality like few other films can while infusing it with enough wit to make it more interesting than most of our mundane lives.

In her directorial debut, Maguire constructs an intoxicating comedy that touches both the funny bone and the heart. The flaws are virtually transparent and outside of some of the acting, “Bridget Jones’s Diary” is a well-crafted romantic comedy.

The film is also a fable. It takes us on an emotional journey to discover the truth behind solitude and its negative influence on a healthy life. Its moral is that lust lurks under every rock, but love is an entity that hides in the most unlikely of places.

“Bridget Jones’s Diary” is a movie that will capture the hearts of the movie-going audience. Much of its focus is on female viewers, but male spectators who are in touch with their feminine side could enjoy this as well.

Review Written

October 3, 2002