Whilst lightning has never really struck twice when it comes to the Bridget Jones film series – the 2001 original, Bridget Jones’s Diary, is entirely unmatched in its quality – hats must be taken off for director Michael Morris and writers Helen Fielding (whose novel of the same name it’s based off), Dan Mazer and Abi Morgan for not only capturing the essence of the character once again, but navigating a more emotional story with the right amount of humour and heart as to not undercut its weight.
When we last left our lovely Bridget Jones (once again wholly embodied by the sublime Renée Zellweger) in 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby, she and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) had finally gotten their are-they-or-aren’t-they-nonsense on the correct side of “Yes they are.” It was a fitting end to the couple, as well as serving as a loving wink to the audience by revealing that the previously thought deceased Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), the ultimate cad, was, in fact, very much alive.
Despite the fact that Fielding’s novel revealed the unfortunate demise of Darcy, there’ll no doubt be many a fan distressed at the fact that Darcy is indeed no longer with us in the Bridget Jones cinematic universe, and much of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy centres itself around both Bridget and her children, Billy (Casper Knopf) and Mabel (Mila Jankovic), navigating that grief and that there is, in fact, no right way to move on. Though the Bridget Jones film have never exactly shied away from flirting with serious subjects, Mad About the Boy is, by far, the most emotionally grounded. Not only in how it handles grief, but the romantic inclinations that are brought forward in a world where Bridget’s age is not nearly as drastic a red flag as she assumes it is.
Firth has a limited presence, but it’s really quite lovingly incorporated, and Grant is his usual dashing-cum-devious self, but his Daniel Cleaver has, quite shockingly, grown up in many regards, and it’s seeing him and Bridget bounce off each other in a supportive manner that stands as one of the film’s highest points. But given the title, we know Bridget’s penchant for a good love triangle is bubbling in the background, but, perhaps surprising to many, her relationships with young Roxster (Leo Woodall) and the more grown-up Mr. Walliker (Chiwitel Ejiofor) are played out as more individual, rather than concurrently.
Walliker’s presence lingers through much of the film’s first half, looming as the stern, by-the-books school teacher who, despite his obvious aesthetic appeal, is more of a hinderance in the realm of Bridget. She doesn’t appreciate the way he favours fact and science over her son’s hope and imagination, and though the script adopts the tested mentality of opposites attract, her distraction with garbage enthusiast Roxster takes preference. Saving her from a tree climbing fiasco in a suitably adorable meet-cute scenario, Roxster is immediately painted as a swoon-worthy Romeo, and because Woodall is quite charming, we absolutely buy what he’s selling Bridget; it’s also to the film’s benefit that he and Zellweger have a natural, organic rapport between them.
Unbothered by their age difference, the romantic montages between Bridget and Roxster lean into Mad About the Boy‘s genre temperament, and whilst it does adhere to a familiarity, Morris embraces the notion of “it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Just why her focus shifts towards Walliker is best left to viewing, but it isn’t an altogether unsurprising plot device. And as much as Woodall puts us on his side, Ejiofor’s mature charm and his character’s gradual momentum of coming around to Bridget’s way of thinking allows him to emerge as the Darcy to Woodall’s Cleaver.
Whatever comfortableness Mad About the Boy expresses in its storytelling, it’s ultimately a treat to have Zellweger back as this character in a film proudly wears its status as a film for adults. American romantic comedies tend to either sanitize themselves or go to the extreme of embracing the raunch. The Bridget Jones films, and so often British examples of the genre, sit suitably in between. These are films made by adults for adults, ready to embrace the schmaltz of its starry-eyed personality, but doing so without sacrificing its intelligence.
Bridget may be mad about her boy here, but we’re sharing the same sentiment for Zellweger’s perfect encapsulation of a woman who doesn’t need to get it right for us to embrace her wholeheartedly. It was said in the original that she was loved “just as she is”, and it really couldn’t be any more fitting a statement all these years on.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is screening in Australian theatres and available to stream on Peacock in the United States from February 13th, 2025.
