When I last watched Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016), like the titular character, I was painfully single and with no Mark Darcy or Jack Qwant in sight. Even trying to find a date to watch the film with was an uphill battle as the men seemed to have an aversion to a chick flick, almost as if they found it emasculating.
At least Jones (played by Renee Zellweger) had no shortage of hot men in her orbit to pick from. Both Darcy and Qwant would have jumped at the chance to go on a movie date with her, but I digress.
Cut to 2025, I’m in an empty cinema on a Sunday afternoon, still painfully single – not even having loved and lost – and watching Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. But, like our heroine, I’m older, wiser, more mature, and perhaps this is why the sequel (and the fourth in the film franchise) worked perfectly for me.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy picks up on a bittersweet note. We see Jones with her kids Billy and Mabel, whom she shares with Darcy (Colin Firth), getting them ready for the babysitter as she prepares for an dinner appointment. As expected, she isn’t a natural and struggles, immediately reminding longtime fans of the alcohol-fuelled, insecure, rambly, clumsy, accident-prone klutz that she was. There’s still a bit of that Bridget, but realistically, she has grown – somewhat.
When she arrives at the dinner venue, the other shoe is dropped, and we learn it’s been a year since Darcy died while on a humanitarian mission overseas. That isn’t a secret, as the movie is based on the third book of the series, and Darcy dies in it. While the film could have just gone back to its usual trope of bumbling Jones fumbling her way through the modern dating scene and being a dithering fool, it doesn’t do its heroine that disservice.
It’s been decades since she ran after Darcy in her tigerskin-print underwear (Bridget Jones, 2001) or confessed her love for him at his workplace in front of his colleagues while utterly soaked from the rain and wearing a rather unflattering dress (Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, 2004).
New Loves
What would a Bridget Jones movie be without an adventure in love? This film has it in spades with Leo Woodall’s Roxster and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Scott Wallaker. The franchise has never failed in its casting of Jones’ love interests, from Daniel Cleaver to Darcy to Qwant, and now with Roxster and Wallaker.
As Jones exclaimed in her internal monologue while watching Wallaker remove his rain-soaked shirt, “Ding-f******-dong!” Sadly, both aren’t giving much to do besides turning up the heat for our heroine (and viewers), and I do wish Wallaker was given a bit more time to ‘cook’ with Jones in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, as the young ones would say.
However, this is Jones’ story fundamentally, and it is in her reaction to modern dating and its challenges – hello, ghosting! – that we see how far she has come in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. While the old, insecure Jones rears her head when she keeps texting despite knowing she has been ghosted, she ultimately catches herself and walks away from something she knows isn’t right.
Older and Wiser
Jones has matured, expectedly so, and thankfully, the film acknowledges that its audience has too. It doesn’t stray too far, though, as the old Jones surfaces just a tad while she navigates modern dating – who still uses Tinder? – and, of course, when she has a meet-cute with her potential lovers at the same time.
It’s enough for a quick laugh, a pang of sympathy, some second-hand embarrassment, a wave of nostalgia. Still, it never devolves into a ridiculous, cringeworthy affair as it could have. While Jones’ awkwardness and quirkiness have always been celebrated, it seems even more so in this film when she is on a journey to figure out how to live again after a tragic loss.
Key to that journey is Jones’ core relationship in this instalment, which is her kids. Their arc is deftly handled, I must say. It never feels too heavy-handed on familial values and love and, instead, becomes a refreshing but poignant take on what it means to let go and move on. It’s easy to identify with Jones’ journey of grief and moving on, but it’s not easy to bring audiences into the perspective of kids and what the grief of losing a parent means without them conveniently turning into bratty, angsty rebels.
In this respect, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy excelled. A specific scene with balloons brought an unexpected tear to my eye. While I cannot truly empathise with the loss of a great love, the feeling of grief and letting go is universal, and translating that through a simple scene was nothing short of incredible.
It’ll be All Right
Close to the end of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, after watching a cathartic solo performance by her son, Jones tells Wallaker that that was the moment she knew he had moved on and would be all right. At the film’s end, Wallaker tells Jones that scientists fall in love with the beauty in things. Well, I won’t debate the veracity of that statement as it’s irrelevant, but the message about finding the beauty in things is.
As I embark on this new era of self-love, and acceptance of the things I cannot control, these two timeless messages were a reminder. In this social media-driven world, where everything is curated to perfection and beauty standards are incredibly unrealistic, there is beauty in the deeply flawed and messy chaos.
And while I may still be painfully single, I know I’ll be all right because I’m trying to live my life on my terms. And I know that when I have my dinner after the show, sitting alone at the table surrounded by happy couples and families, everything will be all right. Earlier, I said that perhaps, the maturation of Jones was what made the film work for me. I was wrong. There is no doubt that it’s precisely because of it.
A fitting end, if it’s true, to an enduring film franchise that has captivated the hearts and minds of people through the years. So, dance on Bridget Jones, and march to the beat of your own drum. I’m right here with you.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is out now in theatres everywhere.
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Summary
More than just a feel-good chick flick, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy shows that it’s possible to make a good romantic comedy in modern times, with an excellent balance between the romantic tropes from the golden era of rom-coms in the 2000s and a more realistic portrayal of relationships that people have come to embrace.
