Spiky RomCom That is Working its Way Towards Classic Status

Rating: 7/10 (28 December 2013)

In structural terms, BRIDGET JONES DIARY doesn't have too much relationship to its source; the diary-form is soon abandoned in favor of the basic romantic comic plot. What the film does have, however, is a winning central performance from Renee Zellweger in the eponymous title role; many of her thoughts are heard in voice-over, and director Sharon Maguire has great fun exploring the distance between such thoughts and what really happens in Bridget's life. In many ways she is an idealist, perpetually in search of the ideal boyfriend but doomed to spend her life with lowlifes and/or cads. As Daniel Cleaver, her boss and one-time lover, Hugh Grant is a perfect example of this latter kind of person, the guy who protests love for Bridget on the one hand while trying his best to exploit her credulity on the other. The film also brings out the story's Austenian echoes; Colin Firth is wonderfully standoffish as Mark Darcy, but he understand his true nature from the way he stares at Bridget, even though he moves scarcely a facial muscle. Proud of his public image as a hotshot lawyer, he finds it difficult, if not impossible to acknowledge his true feelings - at least until the climactic fight sequence with Cleaver. BRIDGET JONES DIARY also contains at least two memorable cameos from Gemma Jones as Bridget's mother - whose antics put her daughter to shame - and Paul Brooke as Mr. Fitzberbert (or Tits Pervert as Bridget calls him), Cleaver's snobbish sidekick. In short, a film that improves with repeated viewings.