Bridget Jones's Diary

Year: 2001
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Directed: Sharon Maguire
Stars: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, Shirley Henderson, Sally Phillips, James Callis, Embeth Davidtz
Production: Miramax

The movie based on the novel by Helen Fielding is a bit of a misnomer. Despite, a few moments of observations told with the delicate staccatos of Renee Zellweger's inner monologue, the diary doesn't really fit into the story all that much. What the film should have been called is Pride and Prejudice 2000. Not to say that a loose adaptation of a classic is a bad idea it's just you don't have to be so obvious about it.

Our charming protagonist Bridget (Zellweger) is a bit of a hot mess. In the words of potential love interest Mark Darcy (Firth), "she smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish and dresses like her mother." Bridget decides to mend her ways in an effort to find "true love." This promptly gets the attention of her boss Daniel (Grant), a notorious flirt and head of the publishing company she works for. Bridget comes to believe Mark and Daniel are acquainted and not on good terms. So naturally her budding relationship with Daniel causes a further rift while the accident prone Bridget juggles her work, her love life and her family. As you can imagine not everything goes according to plan.

All of the film's charm lies squarely on the shoulders of Renee Zellweger. The film goes through the motions as if it were in a trance yet she somehow makes everything bearable and even enjoyable. Much ado was made when she, an American was cast in lieu of a British actress. Rest assured her effervescence, her wit and her accent all make it through the picture unscathed. Truth be told finding a comedic character of this depth and verisimilitude is near impossible these days and for a female character to be this utterly likable is a testament to Mz. Zellweger's abilities.

If only the supporting characters and competing love interests were as fully developed. Both Firth and Grant do their best yet neither fully succeeds in winning me over. Firth's rendition of Darcy acts like he's come in from an entirely different movie and only adds to the plot when a certain bit of information needs to be conveniently pushed to the side to become a dramatic macguffin later. Grant on the other hand can play many roles including a romantic lead but being a deceitful wastrel who "wants to make a change;" oh brother. The less I say about the completely wasted talents of Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones the better.

One of those rare, rare occasions the book is better

As I've said before the magic behind the source material i.e. "Pride and Prejudice" is it's universality. Despite two centuries of wide circulation, the Jane Austen novel works because it ultimately is about finding yourself within the context of a stifling social structure. To that end Bridget Jones's Diary succeeds until the very last act. Instead of a shrewd Elizabeth Bennet meeting the stoic Darcy on equal footing sans pride or prejudice, we get Bridget coveting a man she knows she loves yet hardly knows and is willing to brave the cold in her underwear to prove it. Bridget Jones is not a subversion of rom-com cliches (or the lives of landed gentry for that matter), it's a submission to the idle, unworkable fantasies of romantic love that to be quite frank has warn out it's welcome in the 90's.

Lacking the sharpness of the original source material and willing to submit itself and its audience to sentimentalism, the film is nothing more than your average run-of-the-mill romantic comedy made pleasant by Renee Zellweger. Bridget Jones's Diary should be viewed only to watch Zellweger find her muse in the rich inner-life of a single woman in her 30's fearing the looming threat of spinsterhood. Single people be warned, this movie is liable to push you into bad decisions; don't fall for the hype.

Final Grade: D+