A Bridget Jones alternate universe

Rating: Null/10 (25 June 2004)

AS A MOVIE, BJD does yeoman's work as the standard British romantic comedy. It's not the greatest film ever made. It's not the worst. The acting is quite good on several fronts: Hugh Grant, in particular, is superb as the smarmy UberCad, Daniel Cleaver. And of course Colin Firth is, as ever, a dreamy delight as the Brit version of an Alpha Male. The plot fits together neatly, the locations are lovely, the direction is serviceable, the laughs genuine enough, the dialogue at times clever, yadda yadda yadda... And yet...
I'm still disappointed that the BJD film strayed so far from the book. It was like I was watching a rip-off of a book that I loved. The heroine here was a quasi-bad girl, not the flawed, awful, and yet so adorable Bridget I knew and loved. So many of the plot elements (and Bridget's reactions to/observations of them) that made the book screamingly funny are dismissed entirely. The importance of her friendships in her life--gone. The parallels to Pride and Prejudice, particularly for the book's ending--obliterated. I haven't been able to watch the movie since the first time I saw it. I just can't bring myself to do it.
So, on its own, the BJD film is fun and sweet, not a bad way to find some light diversion, and heaven knows any opportunity to savor the talent and beauty of Hugh Grant and Colin Firth is not to be missed. But as the adaptation of a beloved book, BJD is horrible. Simply horrible.