I've only fairly recently watched the Bridget Jones movies for the first time and I think it's safe to say that my infatuation with Colin Firth has not yet, and likely never will dissipate. If anything, this series of films has only intensified my infatuation. Which, I would argue had developed into something even more. It's a word most people easily throw into their daily conversations. I think the first letter is L...Love! That's it! Just when I thought he couldn't be more beautiful than he is now, I watch two films he acted in when in his prime. Which he is, debatably, still in. (His prime, I mean.) I totally love these movies. In fact, the first time I watched the first two films (this was right before the latest film hit theaters) back-to-back, twice. I'd heard of the Bridget Jones movies well before I watched them. I would always see them on TV when I was little and actually watched movies on TV. You know way back when there was such a thing as cable.
4.5 out of 5 stars
The first film was my favorite, as firsts usually are my favorites. It starts off as its antecedents do, with Bridget Jones, a single woman in her thirties visit her parents' house for her mother's annual New Year's Eve turkey curry dinner who is determined to find the perfect man to settle down with. Bridget explains that her mother attempts to set her up with a new "eligible" man. This time she introduces Bridget to Mark Darcy, a successful barrister- the best in his field- whom she claims she used to play in his paddling pool. Bridget is first unconvinced that this setup will be any more successful than the previous ones, but then Bridget sees Mark is a little hopeful.
Around the same time that Bridget meets Mark, she's noticed by her player-for-a-boss Daniel Cleaver. Bridget promised herself she wouldn't get involved with men like Daniel Cleaver, but she can hardly resist him: he's handsome, charmingly vulgar, and quite persuasive. Bridget falls for both men and with the help of her urban family (her small group of friends that usually give her decent dating advice) has to choose who wants to be with.
When I first watched the film, I found Bridget to be refreshingly flawed and (somewhat) normal. She might have her problems, as Mark so poetically pointed out, she "drinks like a fish, smokes like a chimney, and dresses like her mother". Also, she a little too awkward and cringy to be passed off as anything but a fictional character, you know what I mean? But she has a few redeeming qualities. For instance, her expectations are not so high as to be delusional. At one point in the movie, she lets Daniel know that if he does not want to continue to be in a serious relationship with her, he doesn't have to. That's a characteristic that I truly admire.
4 out of 5 stars
While the first film focuses on Bridget's hunt for the perfect man, the second centers on her life after the fact. Subsequent to (SPOILER ALERT) Bridget's choosing Mark Darcy over Daniel Cleaver (kudos to her), she sees life in a new, more positive light. Life could not have been better for Bridget Jones, everything is perfect. Sure, Mark folds his boxers before going to bed and Bridget finds that a tad peculiar, but she thinks she can look past that. Everything starts to go downhill when she starts feeling like she doesn't fit in with his group of lawyer friends and feels especially threatened when Mark is partnered with a beautiful, tall, willowy colleague named Rebecca.
To make matters worse, Daniel Cleaver has returned into her life and claims to have changed. He now works for a TV network as a show host and when Bridget is unexpectedly (not really) forced to travel with him to Thailand for work she's afraid she will be ensnared by his charm.
I liked this one marginally less than Bridget Jones's Diary, but I still loved it. It's just as cute and funny as the first, complete with another Darcy and Cleaver faceoff at the end of the film. I found Bridget's complaints about her relationship a little ridiculous, but she realized that for herself at some point. Mark Darcy as charming and beautiful as always, of course.
To make matters worse, Daniel Cleaver has returned into her life and claims to have changed. He now works for a TV network as a show host and when Bridget is unexpectedly (not really) forced to travel with him to Thailand for work she's afraid she will be ensnared by his charm.
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| The Urban Family |
I liked this one marginally less than Bridget Jones's Diary, but I still loved it. It's just as cute and funny as the first, complete with another Darcy and Cleaver faceoff at the end of the film. I found Bridget's complaints about her relationship a little ridiculous, but she realized that for herself at some point. Mark Darcy as charming and beautiful as always, of course.
3 out of 5 stars
I was very disappointed when I found out Hugh Grant would not be joining the cast in this film while it was in production, which in turn lead to my developing feelings of skepticism and apprehension and ultimately resulted in disappointment in the film. I have absolutely nothing against Patrick Dempsey or his character, but quite frankly, it's not the same. The film takes place years after the second film, Bridget is pregnant and does not know who the father is: it could be Mark Darcy, with whom she is not longer in a relationship with, but had a moment of weakness with. Or, it could be Jack, the handsome American she had a brief dalliance with at a festival.
It's been years since the previous movie was released, so viewers as sort reintroduced to Bridget Jones at the beginning of the film. She still works at Sit Up Britain and has been promoted and is single. AGAIN. I love Bridget Jones, but I do believe this addition was unnecessary, unfortunate even. I watched The Edge of Reason thinking Bridget and Mark could not possibly break up after all they had been through and that they were perfect for each other, but that was not case apparently. Anyway, while I didn't love Bridget Jones's Baby, I still highly recommend that you watch these movies!
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