Bridget Jones's Diary (Renée Zellweger)

It’s just over nine years since we watched ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’, a film which is sometimes considered a classic. It’s based on a book of the same name by Helen Fielding which I read a year or so after first watching the film, and I wasn’t very impressed with it. However I had entirely forgotten the storyline and most of the characters, so we decided it was time to see it again.

What I had remembered - and which is fairly obvious anyway - is that this story has several nods to Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’. The most obvious one is that early in the book Bridget (Renee Zellweger) meets a handsome but rather aloof young man called Mark Darcy. He’s played by Colin Firth, which of course adds to the connection for those who have seen the BBC adaptation of ‘Pride and Prejudice’.

However the story is quite different. Bridget is not at all like Lizzie Bennett. She’s a heavy smoker and drinker, and eats junk food. She wants to lose weight even though she isn’t particularly overweight - but she could certainly do with developing a healthier lifestyle. And she admits to a crush on her boss Daniel (Hugh Grant) but is well aware that he’s a womaniser and something of a jerk.

The book was all written in diary form, but that isn’t possible in a film and there are only a few scenes involving the diary, though they include an important one near the end. Most of the film is action-based, albeit rather trite and with a lot more bad language than I’m comfortable with. Bridget has a group of friends who are caricatured and decidedly bizarre, and she wears clothes that attract men but don’t particularly suit her.

Indeed most of the minor characters in the film are exaggerated or caricatured, other than, perhaps, Bridget’s long-suffering father (Jim Broadbent). Her mother (Gemma Jones) isn’t quite as ghastly as Austen’s Mrs Bennett, but is still decidedly weird and materialistic.

The boss Daniel, clearly meant to represent the handsome but unreliable Mr Wickham of Austen’s novel, is quite charming. Hugh Grant was 40 when this film was made (in 2001) but could easily pass for thirty. Unlike his regular roles as a likeable but uncertain gentleman, he manages the smooth, seducing charmer extremely well.

Colin Firth is less believable at first; Bridget doesn’t like the way he dresses, but he’s outspoken and rather rude, too - and while he does become nicer during the story, there was never any real chemistry between him and Bridget, and their inevitable eventual attraction doesn’t feel entirely real.

All of which sounds a bit negative, but overall it’s an enjoyable film, with some humour, and nothing over-taxing for an evening’s light viewing. It’s rated 15, (R in the USA) probably due to the excessive use of ‘strong’ language, mainly by one character, and the amount of smoking. There are bedroom scenes but only one brief one is explicit, and in most cases there’s no nudity. There are a lot of innuendoes there, and plenty of overt sexual discussion. There’s a scene of violence towards the end, too, but it’s not particularly gory.

Recommended for older teens and adults if you don’t mind the crudeness and the lightweight nature of the story, and are looking for something light and (in places) amusing.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews