Film Review: Bridget Jones's Baby
19th September 2016
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★★★★☆
After more than a decade away from our screens, Bridget Jones is back and still as joyous and funny as ever in the latest film in the franchise, Bridget Jones's Baby.
The film sees Renée Zellweger reprise her Oscar-nominated role as the hapless but ever-endearing Bridget Jones, who at 43, is once again stuck in the rut of spinsterhood after parting ways with her former flame Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Compelled by her younger, trendier friend Miranda (Sarah Solemani), Bridget seeks a burst of adventure in her life - which she finds, for one night at least, with the dashing American Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey).
A few days later, she finds herself re-enamoured with Mark at a family christening and with not one, but two things leading to another, soon discovers that she is pregnant. The ambiguous conception of the eponymous baby later leads to several hysterical events as Bridget struggles to determine who the father is.
Following the franchise's first, fairly underwhelming sequel, The Edge of Reason, and Helen Fielding's controversially received third novel, Mad About The Boy, you'd be forgiven for feeling slightly dubious about this latest film. Thankfully however, the film quickly shreds it's much-perceived money-grabbing motives and gets back into the swing of things as we know and love them; making Bridget's return more of a victorious comeback than the wheeled out cash machine that many believed it would be.
As well as marking the big-screen return for Bridget, the film also sees the on-screen return of Renée Zellweger, who has been absent from the movie-making business for the past six years. Despite the tabloid furore surrounding her older, slightly different appearance, Zellweger does a good job at easing back into the character.
Even though she doesn't look exactly like the Bridget of 2001, or (if you listen carefully) sound as naturally, effortlessly English as 2001 Bridget, she still feels like the character that we have loved and related to for the past 20 years. Though she has matured slightly, she is still as hapless and prone to cringe-worthy moments as ever.

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