Inhabits a neverland of foul mouthed media luvvies.Terrible.

Rating: 3/10 (3 August 2008)

It is clear from reading a lot of reviews from this site that there are many who sincerely believe that "Bridget Jones's Diary" is a story of real English people and that the whole country is populated by extremely irritating types who all work in "The Media" and live smug,self - satisfied lives and have big houses in the country where they turn up en famille every Christmas rather like children on holiday from the public school they all undoubtedly attended.They are all terribly,terribly well - spoken and most certainly don't buy their clothes from Matalan. They all met up at "University",Cambridge,generally,rather than Middlesex or Manchester and live in an almost incestuous round of dinner parties and soirees.Mr Cleaver and Mr Darcy - rivals for Miss Jones's hand in the movie - met at Cambridge.What a surprise.We are not told much of Miss Jones's background but she is most definitely not a working - class English girl as fondly imagined.Miss Zellwegger is spared the need to "do" Estuary English and settles for a sweet"Well- educated" accent although it is not clear how well - educated Miss Jones has actually been.Well enough presumably to have heard of F.R. Leavis but not well enough to have known he has been dead rather a long time, much to her better educated Cambridge boss's amusement.The England portrayed in this movie sets a lot of store by one - upmanship like that where the intellectually and socially superior can feel comfortable in their superiority,and say what you like about Mr Grant - and I am by no means an admirer - he is very comfortable in the sort of role where he can patronise those less fortunate. To him Miss Jones is,basically,a good sh*g and, almost, you might say,a bit of rough.So he does. Then he dumps her. Hardly pausing to take breath,Miss Jones changes her affections to his college pal Mr Firth,hardly the act of a feisty,independent 21st century woman one would have thought.What is it they say "Man is to woman as bicycle is to fish"?Don't tell Bridget. As for any other Richard Curtis work I did not believe in a single minute of this film.Mr Grant has gone beyond the merely irritating,Mr Firth should really try to display some sign of life.The constant use of the "F" word is no more amusing here than in "Full Metal Jacket" where at least it was excusable. Salman Rushdie shouldn't give up his day job. This is a film set in England for people who have never been to England,about the English for people who've never met any.Do so on the strength of "Bridget Jones's Diary" and I guarantee you'll be disappointed.