Baffled by it's popularity

Rating: 3/10 (7 August 2005)

I will never understand why so many people rave about this movie. I found it annoying and boring to the extreme. Neither the plot or the acting kept my interest - I ended up finishing the movie by sheer force of will. Renee Zellweger did absolutely nothing to endear me to her character. This movie single handedly ended any appreciation I had for her work - I now avoid movies that have her in it. Bridget is more annoying than anything else. Not to mention that "fat" Bridget is not that fat at all - the majority of women these days wouldn't look half so good in that bunny suit. For all the glorifying praise Renee got for gaining weight, there really wasn't anything to write home about. Frumpy clothing does not make someone fat. I actually think she looked better in BJD than she did in her wedding pictures. While I love Colin Firth and "Pride and Prejudice", I found his character boring and uninspired. I suppose he probably was bored and uninspired, considering this is exactly the type of role Colin keeps getting thrown into.
I understand that the book (which I haven't read) was based on "Pride and Prejudice", but the movie turned out as such a blatant knock off of P&P that it probably would have made more sense to acknowledge the inspiration in the previews. I hadn't read the book or heard much about BJD before watching the movie, so the striking similarities in the storyline were more annoying than they could have been. I was expecting a clever movie about a modern woman's struggles with her self-image and social life. What I got was this.