The Reel Review
London TV producer Bridget Jones is back, still silly and endearing but also dealing with re-entering the workforce and the dating scene as a single mom, following the death of her husband. Renée Zellwegger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall and Hugh Grant star in this fourth installment in the rom-com franchise.
Once again, Zellwegger taps into this immensely lovable, relatable character with gusto. This sequel still has all of Bridget’s trademark chaos, silliness and wildly inappropriate comic situations, but it also has something to say about melancholy and sorrow, as Bridget struggles to regain her joy after two tragic life events. There are tear-inducing references to each throughout the film.
Is Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy corny? Yes. Is the ending completely predictable? Yes. But does it have a huge heart and will it put a big smile on your face? Absolutely. For lovers of sappy rom-coms, this sweet crowd pleaser is the best one since the original 2001 Bridget Jones film, and a fitting, happy ending to the saga if it is also the last.
REEL FACTS
• Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is the first of the four films to be directed by a man, Michael Moore (To Leslie, Better Call Saul).
• While streaming on Peacock in the U.S., Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy opened at $15.9 million in its opening weekend in the U.K., a record for a rom-com and the strongest-ever opening for a Bridget Jones movie.
• Helen Fielding, author of the Bridget Jones novels, is now working on a non-Bridget Jones novel. Her ex-husband, comedy writer Kevin Curran, died of cancer in 2016.
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