HOME THEATER & SOUND -- Movie Review

Bridget Jones's Diary
***
reviewed by Doug Schneider

While Paul McCartney wondered if the world has had enough of "silly love songs," I wonder if they’ll ever have enough of it in the movies? Not likely.

Bridget Jones’s Diary is another one of those cute British comedies in the same vein as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and all those. In fact, it even has Hugh Grant in it. The catch here is that it also stars an American, Renée Zellweger, who does fabulous job playing the very British Bridget Jones. It’s Zellweger who makes this movie.

Bridget, you see, is alone and not too happy about it. There’s a wonderful scene near the beginning where she lip-synchs "All By Myself." She does desperately wants to meet a man, but not just any man. Bridget has her eyes set on her playboy boss Daniel Cleaver (played against type by Hugh Grant). And its her relationship with Cleaver, and also another more uptight British gent named Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), that that this movie revolves around. That said, it won’t be surprising how the story evolves (we’ve seen it enough times before), but it’s how Bridget gets there and exactly what she does that makes for the best parts of the film.

This is a very good movie that did make me laugh out loud more than a couple times. In this day of only so-so comedies that alone is enough for a good recommendation. But what endeared me most to it was Zellweger’s Jones character. See, I once knew a girl just like Bridget Jones. She was a friend who was slightly overweight, somewhat odd, and perennially drunk -- just like Bridget. This girl dreamed of meeting the right man too -- not just any man, but the right man, and he worked in our office. Well, just like in the movies sometimes dreams do come true because one night while she was in another drunken depressed stupor (like Bridget) her Prince Charming did come along and they lived happily ever after (or I think so, anyway). Bridget Jones’s Diary gets a ***1/2 rating.

 


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