Bridget Jones's Diary

If the plot sounds familiar, that's because Fielding's novel was itself a retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, whose romantic male lead is also named Mr. Darcy. An extra ironic poke in the ribs is added by the casting of Firth, who played Austen's haughty hero in the acclaimed BBC adaptation of Austen's novel. First-time director Sharon Maguire directs with confident comic zest, while Zellweger twinkles charmingly, fearlessly baring her cellulite and pulling off a spot-on English accent. Like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill (both of which were written by this film's coscreenwriter, Richard Curtis), Bridget Jones's stock-in-trade is a very English self-deprecating sense of humor, a mild suspicion of Americans (especially if they're thin and successful), and a subtly expressed analysis of thirtysomething fears about growing up and becoming a "smug married." The whole is, as Bridget would say, v. good. --Leslie Felperin

Customer reviews:

A Bitter Sweet Movie , 2008-11-14
This movie was a bit comical, but also very touching and tear jerking too, since Bridget(Renee Zellwegger) and Daniel(Hugh Grant) started out seeming like the perfect couple who was hot and heavy and then all of the sudden POOF! Daniel decides to dump Bridget and discovers that Daniel was being unfaithful to her when she walks into their bathroom and finds Daniel's mistress hiding in there naked, just before Daniel drops the bomb on Bridget and tells her that he and his mistress were even engaged to be married on top of that.

So then Bridget moves on by eventually dating Mark Darcy(Colin Firth) after getting over a tragic break-up with Daniel, but then one night Daniel decides to drop by Bridget's apartment one night while Mark and Bridgets friends are having dinner to try to get Bridget back, since Daniel's mistress ended up dumping him and breaking off their engagement resulting in Mark and Daniel duking it out in the street trying to win over Bridget, but then Daniel ends up getting the crap beat out of him in the process after a hasty altercation, which unfortunately kinda left Bridget caught between a rock & a hard place.

The truth is, I kind of couldn't help feeling sorry for Daniel at first right after the clash with Mark, since Mark beat the crap out of Daniel, which also resulted in Daniel getting a double whammy in the process on top of that, but at the same time, it was like Daniel got what he deserved, since he broke Bridgets heart, but Mark did nothing to hurt Bridget and was a much bigger and better more mature gentleman than Daniel was and seemed to be a more compatible boyfriend/lover for Bridget.

The end was also very touching and heartfelt when Mark drops by Bridget's apartment all of the sudden on short notice on New Years and turning down a job in New York to inform Bridget that he wants to reconcile with her and then ends up reading Bridget's diary by accident while sorting through her stuff while he's trying to find something and reads a hasty little paragraph about himself(Mark Darcy) while Bridget is freshening up to look sexy for Mark to do hubba hubba, but then Mark walks out of Bridgets apartment making us and Bridget think that Mark was leaving Bridget again after reading the nasty stuff Bridget wrote about Mark, but then it turns out that Mark wasn't going to be dumping her and that Mark just wanted to surprise her with a new diary to make a fresh start together as an item again and for Bridget to make herself a new diary starting a brand new life with Mark.

Therefore, it seemed like Bridget's diary lead to nothing, but trouble and grief, kind of like how one innocent love letter lead to 6 sticky situations in the movie "SECRET ADMIRER".

So if you're looking for an interesting comedy drama, "Bridget Jones Diary" is a good movie to watch and consider.

for romantics, 2008-11-12
Recommended by the great book "Cinemotherapy for Lovers" in the "Finding Your Prince" chapter. British? About doing your own thing, and how that can lead to true love.