Very believable...and very charming!

Rating: 10/10 (15 April 2001)

Bridget Jones is a real person. She's someone any of us knows, as are her two would-be suitors, her gadfly friends, her stroppy parents and the melange of people who populate her life in this year. How they got a woman from Texas to sound so believably British is a minor miracle, and it's one of the many ways Renee Zellweger shines in this role. British women need not despair that an American got this role, because she does them all proud. Though I've not read all of Helen Fielding's book, the film captures the essence of a thirtysomething woman struggling for self-definition in a world of pigeon holes.
What was even more refreshing was to see Hugh Grant playing a downright scoundrel, departing from the shy, erstwhile characters he usually plays. He, too, deserves kudos for a totally believable. So does Colin Firth as the stodgy Mark Darcy. Though a couple of characters in the book were a bit forgotten, the balance of the film is charming, endearing and down-to-earth. It's a film one can enjoy "just the way it is."