Bridget Jones (film series)

BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY (15)

D: Sharon Maguire

Universal/Studio Canal/Miramax/Working Title (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner & Jonathan Cavendish)

UK/USA 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 2001

92 mins

Comedy/Romance

W: Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies & Richard Curtis [based on the novel by Helen Fielding]

DP: Stuart Dryburgh

Ed: Martin Walsh

Mus: Patrick Doyle

PD: Gemma Jackson

Cos: Rachael Fleming

Renée Zellweger (Bridget Jones), Colin Firth (Mark Darcy), Hugh Grant (Daniel Cleaver), Gemma Jones (Bridget's Mum), Jim Broadbent (Bridget's Dad), Embeth Davidtz (Natasha)

Hugely popular romcom based on an equally popular novel about a neurotic, slightly overweight thirty-something single woman looking for love in all the wrong places.

Renee Zellweger is excellent at the title character and gets some good support from Hugh Grant as her arsehole boss and Colin Firth as her knight in shining armour.

It's film which would mean more to the female lonelyhearts but probably not the type of film that a guy would admit to watching more than once. Perfectly enjoyable fluff.

7/10

Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones'a Diary

BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON (15)

D: Beeban Kidron

Miramax / Working Title / StudioCanal / Little Bird (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner & Jonathan Cavendish)

UK/France/Ireland/US 🇬🇧🇫🇷🇮🇪🇺🇸 2004

108 mins

Comedy/Romance

W: Adam Brooks, Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies & Helen Fielding [based on the novel by Helen Fielding]

DP: Adrian Biddle

Ed: Greg Hayden

Mus: Harry Gregson-Williams

Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones), Colin Firth (Mark Darcy), Hugh Grant (Daniel Cleaver), Jim Broadbent (Colin Jones), Gemma Jones (Pamela Jones)

I wouldn’t say that I was in the target demographic for the first Bridget Jones movie, but I still enjoyed it immensely. This sequel, however, not so much.

The plot is practically a retread of the first, with the eponymous character having issues with her love life as she navigates her career and social life, with embarrassing scenarios in each.

Renee Zellweger is as great she was in the first movie, but the clichéd plot, colour-by-numbers direction and incessant soundtrack crammed full of pop standards really aren’t anything to write home about.

5/10

Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

BRIDGET JONES’S BABY (15)

D: Sharon Maguire

StudioCanal / Miramax / Working Title / Perfect World (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner & Debra Hayward)

UK/US/France 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇫🇷 2016

123 mins

Comedy/Romance

W: Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer & Emma Thompson [based on characters created by Helen Fielding]

DP: Andrew Dunn

Ed: Melanie Oliver

Mus: Craig Armstrong

Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones), Colin Firth (Mark Darcy), Patrick Dempsey (Jack Qwant), Sarah Solemani (Miranda), Jim Broadbent (Colin Jones)

Renee Zellweger returns to play the (slightly older than) thirty-something singleton following a 12-year hiatus.

It’s pretty much more of the same, with our eponymous character in a love triangle yet again with her dashing beau Mark Darcy and rugged rogue Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey standing in for Hugh Grant), the added complication here is that there’s a pregnancy involved.

Predictable to the beat throughout the running time, but Renee Zellweger is once again perfectly cast and thoroughly enjoyable in the lead, while there’s an added bonus of Sharon Maguire returning to direct after sitting out the first sequel.

It is pretty much what you’ll expect and though it’s a given that fans of the previous films will certainly enjoy it, its an unpretentious, easy-to-watch romcom for everyone else.

6/10