not really that interesting

Rating: Null/10 (14 November 2004)

The overrated movie of Helen Fielding's newspaper columns and later book, 'Bridget Jones's Diary', flops onto the screen and never really goes anywhere.
Renee Zellweger plays the annoying singleton who drinks and smokes a lot, mimes (badly) to junk like 'All By Myself', and thinks life begins and ends with a man. She gets two to choose from - love rat Daniel Cleaver (her boss, Hugh Grant, who flirts with her by email in the office) and sensible Mark Darcy (Colin Firth, in a part which gently sends up his Pride and Prejudice role of a few years earlier) - but, being Bridget, can't make up her mind.
Is Bridget Jones an interesting character? No. She's a silly and empty-headed character, not even funny. I can't see the attraction. Grant and Firth are OK but both are playing clichéd characters. Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent are good as Bridget's parents, with Honor Blackman as a tarty co-worker, Sally Phillips as a journo who swears a lot, and Neil Pearson as a horny TV editor. There's just not much here of interest. It even snows conveniently at Christmas.
Bridget Jones is something of a bore. I couldn't have cared less by the end of the movie who she ended up with and won't be rushing out to see the sequel.