BRIDGET JONESíS DIARY (2001) 3 stars out of 4. Starring Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones and Embeth Davidtz. Screenplay by Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis. Based on the novel by Fielding. Original score by Patrick Doyle. Directed by Sharon Maguire. Rated R.
With the first few words out of her mouth, Renee Zellweger has you convinced that she is 32-year-old British ìsingleton,î Bridget Jones.
A bit puffy, a mite too loud, a smoker who likes to down a vodka or two, Zellweger embodies the heroine of Helen Fieldingís best-selling novel, Bridget Jonesís Diary.
Bridget works in the public relations department of a publishing company. Her love life is like an unwritten novel ó blank pages.
Bridget goes into the new year vowing several resolutions ó to lose weight, to cut back on her drinking and smoking and to keep a diary.
She also decides that it is the year to improve her love life. As it happens, Bridget catches the eye of her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), and what begins as an office e-mail flirtation soon develops into a torrid affair.
Always in the background of Bridgetís life, though, is Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), who grew up in the same neighborhood as Darcy. Newly divorced, Bridgetís mother tries to play matchmaker for the pair, but no sparks fly.
In fact Bridget thinks that Mark, a barrister (thatís the English name for a lawyer), is snobbish and arrogant. Meanwhile, he looks disapprovingly upon her affair with Daniel.
It seems Mark and Daniel have a history, which led to the breakup of Markís marriage.
More than a romantic comedy, Bridget Jonesís Diary is more a character study of a young woman nearing that age when she begins to fear that she will spend the rest of her life unattached.
As Bridget, Zellweger puts on a brave public front as a sort of flighty, happy-go-lucky single woman. But with her friends and when alone she allows her guard to slip and you can see the loneliness in her eyes and hear it in her speech. Zellweger gives a full-bodied performance. Her English accent is superb, and should silence those who groused that the role was not played by an English actress. (Call it retributive karma for Vivien Leigh playing Scarlett OíHara in Gone With the Wind.)
You admire Bridgetís spunk and root for her to find happiness.
Grant, meanwhile, throws off his image as the self-effacing, stammering nice guy to portray a cad who sweeps Bridget off her feet. Grantís Daniel is devilishly handsome, suave and charming, but heís also a shallow rotter.
Firth has the most difficult role. At the outset, he is an unlikable individual, cold and judgmental. Yet, as he keeps turning up in Bridgetís life he grows warmer, something in his eyes ó a kindness, a sense of compassion ó attracts you to him.
He is a calm, steadying, if a bit dull, influence; a settling force.
As directed by Sharon Maguire, Bridget Jonesís Diary seems to cram ending upon ending in its final reel, but that problem can probably be laid at the feet of the three screenwriters, who included Fielding, as well as Andrew Davies (Circle of Friends) and Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill).
But it is Zellweger, so good last year in the overlooked Nurse Betty, who is the show here. She is the heart and soul of Bridget Jonesís Diary, giving a warm and touching performance.
Move over, Gwyneth Paltrow, thereís another Yank who has crossed the Big Pond and scored a triumph.
Is it too early to talk about an Oscar nomination for Zellweger? Possibly. But at yearís end, she might be among those making the final cut.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette. Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Datebase: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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