Bridget Jones' Baby

Renée Zellweger and a delightful cast, especially Emma Thompson, add some weight to the light simplistic plot of this movie. Dempsey and Firth contrast beautifully, and each has a different kind of chemistry with Zellweger. It's funny and engaging and the lead character, it feels current because they've allowed it to grow. But there isn't much that feels fresh in movie. The one exception is Emma Thompson. In spite of the mess, Zellweger remains winsome and charming as Bridget, enough so that one wishes the movie had done better by her. In short, Bridget Jones's Baby is not a great Bridget Jones movie, but it is a Bridget Jones movie, and maybe that's all people need.

'Bridget Jones's Diary' was an immensely enjoyable film. It had a lot going for it, and succeeded on almost every level. It didn't cover much new ground and didn't break any conventions, but it was warm, charming, hugely funny and sometimes poignant, with a great cast. 'Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason' was however a big step down, despite being adeptly played it lost a lot of what made 'Bridget Jones's' Diary so good.

Heard a lot of different opinions on 'Bridget Jones's' Baby. Some people said that it was a return to form and a huge improvement over 'Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason'. Others said that it was worse and had no point to it. Having seen it myself, initially worried but really wanting to like it and judge it as mindless entertainment, to me it was an improvement but not by much. Not a return to form and nowhere near as good as 'Bridget Jones's Diary'. There are things that are done better here, but there are also the same mistakes and also a few different ones.

It has its good points certainly. 'Bridget Jones's Baby' looks good, being mostly attractive visually in a film that doesn't require epic sweeping cinematography or opulence while still being beautifully shot and with striking locations.

Again, like the previous two films, 'Bridget Jones's' Baby' is adeptly played. Renee Zellwegger, whose Bridget is nowhere near as much a parody or the butt of the joke like in 'Edge of Reason', overdoes it in the facial expressions (on a side note, and no shallowness intended, the Botox does not help), but really attempts and succeeds at bringing out the great qualities of her acting in the previous two films, trying to bring out the funny, adorably awkward and sympathetic sides of her character when the material allows it and her accent more than game.

Colin Firth is sophisticated, understated and charmingly stoic. Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent seem incapable of giving bad performances, though they did deserve more to do, while Sarah Solemani brings an enjoyable amount of sauciness. The casting highlight however is Emma Thompson, who is a hoot and is a breath of fresh air with the funniest material. On that note, there are more amusing moments here than there were in 'Edge of Reason', Thompson's material mostly but also the reason for Hugh Grant's absence and Ed Sheeran. The soundtrack is more appealing this time round with better choice of songs.

For all those good things, the story is even more contrived and predictable than 'Edge of Reason', and, apart from a few good moments, too much of the writing and gags are tired, recycled and even more stale, freshness was sorely lacking here. The romantic elements are lacking in heart and warmth and, despite a subject that so many people would relate to, 'Bridget Jones's Baby' does little with the subject and offers nothing illuminating.

Some of the subplots are strange and clumsily used, especially the one dealing with the punk rock, which didn't seem to fit. Patrick Dempsey is a comparatively fairly weak and mediocre at best substitute for the much missed Hugh Grant (who excelled so well at playing against type previously), having much less of his charm and charisma and instead coming off as both bland and annoying.

While the songs themselves are good, the placement for some isn't, with some misplaced randomness going on. Sharon Maguire's direction is more competent here but is still uninspired, while there is some amateurish editing and obvious, cheap use of green screen.

Overall, not awful but a disappointment and should have been so much better. Instead of laughing consistently, being touched or oohing and ahhing, found myself questioning 'Bridget Jones's Baby's' necessity and thinking "so what?". 5/10 Bethany Cox

Like many I was very happy but skeptical when I heard the news of a third entry in the Bridget Jones series. It had been 12 years since the last film, The Edge of Reason, which deviated severely from its source material in the worst way possible and Helen Fielding had put out an awful third book Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, which seemed to destroy everything I loved about the series.

First off: Bridget Jones's Baby is NOT an adaptation of Mad About the Boy, but its own zany creation. Second of all it's actually surprisingly good. Despite a 12 year gap Renee Zellweger slips into her Bridget persona flawlessly. She's able to anchor the film so that it still feels like a Bridget Jones film while introducing new characters like Jack Quant, a man Bridget instantly has a spark with at a music festival, and Sarah Solemani as Bridget's colleague and single friend, Miranda. Sharon Maguire (who directed the first Bridget film and was the inspiration for Shazzer), returns and seems able to get the best out of her cast.

The film sees Bridget, now turning 43, as a successful news producer who is still single and childless. Deciding to embrace her state as a single spinster she goes to a music festival where she meets a handsome man about her age, and sleeps with him. A little while later, when at her godchild's christening, she runs into Mark Darcy, new divorced from the wife he married after they split up, and as sparks fly, she sleeps with him too, only to remember in the morning all the reasons they split up as he never had time with her and was always focused on work. Soon after she discovers she's pregnant with the titular baby.

A huge part of the success of the film is down to the script which holds contributions from notorious wit Emma Thompson. It's really quite funny, but also has a lot of character bits so we believe in these characters and their decisions. The explanation for why Bridget and Darcy aren't together feels organic and real. Similarly the movie does a great job of showing who these characters would be 12 years on. Bridget has grown and figures out things in life while still keeping sense of humour and being a clumsy mess in certain situations. Rather than appearing haughty, Mark comes across as painfully shy, a careful man who now has many regrets from all the chances he didn't take.

It's a wonderful, sweet movie, and a wonderful end to the Bridget Jones series.

Renee Zwelleger is back with Colin Firth in "Bridget Jones' Baby" from 2016, also starring Patrick Dempsey.

Bridget goes the "Mamma Mia" route - she's 43 in this film and learns she's pregnant after her old love, Mark (Firth) declares himself again, and she goes out with a friend and enjoys a spontaneous evening with a guy famous in the tech field, Jack (Dempsey). Bridget, of course, isn't sure who the father is, and when the GYN/OB (Emma Thompson) comes at her with a huge needle in order to get some DNA, Bridget can't go through with it.

The two men vie for the Expectant Father of the Year Award, leading to some funny situations.

I loved the fact that this film wasn't about twenty-somethings. It's cute. Nothing earth-shattering but with a good cast, certainly good.

An okay romantic comedy that just doesn't have the charm of the initial movie. Dempsey offers a good performance, but Hugh Grant's shoes are haes to fill. Some good moments, some more clichés.