Bridget Jones’s Baby
Dustin Chase
It’s been six years since Oscar winning actress Renee Zellweger’s last film. It’s been 12 years since Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Zellweger’s attempt at a comeback begins with breathing life back into a character that doesn’t seem to have a place in this new decade. Despite rumors of a change in appearance, Zellweger looks fantastic at 47, she just doesn’t look like Bridget Jones anymore. As the original Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) director Sharon Maguire returns, it’s a little too late. The actors at their current ages look embarrassingly silly trying to recreate something that belonged to the new millennium. Newcomers to the franchise Dempsey and Thompson are the few highlights.
Bridget (Zellweger) and Mr. Darcy (Firth) have parted ways since we saw them last. He has married, she is still a spinster, still working at the news station, just behind the scenes as a producer. The two former on and off again lovers bump into each other at a funeral, and then again at a church. Turns out, Darcy is recently single, but of course this information comes right after Bridget decided to sow her wild oats at a music festival to mystery man Jack Qwant (Dempsey). Bridget discovers she is pregnant but hasn’t a clue which is the father, as both men fall over themselves in hopes he is the lucky guy.
As forgettable as the previous sequel, ‘Baby’ milks the “who’s your daddy” plot to the point of dehydration
There are few moments of real comedy, instead the script, co-written by Bridget Jones creator Helen Fielding and Emma Thompson, try to update the story switching out diary’s for i-Pad’s, lovably plump Bridget for skinny better dressed working girl. The one thing this story, not based on any of the books, has going for it, is the series biggest embarrassment yet. Bridget tries to figure out how to tell the two men they are both nominated to be the father. Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) hasn’t done much film and his character is very different from previous men in the series. His energy and style keeps the film interesting even though we all know exactly where the plot is going after basically watching this play out three times now.
Not that Zellweger doesn’t do well with drama, but with Nurse Betty (2000), Bridget Jones (2001), Chicago (2002) and then Cold Mountain (2003), the Texan born actress discovered an award winning career in comedy. ‘Baby’ is a desperate attempt to make the actress relevant again. Where once the supporting characters like Bridget’s zany parents and family got some of the scripts best zingers, here they appear in cameos. Lost too is the colorful personalities of Bridget’s friends, inevitably they are all matured, married and have their own lives. The plot was never the reason for watching Bridget Jones, it was the script’s colorful and ironic humor. As forgettable as the previous sequel, ‘Baby’ milks the “who’s your daddy” plot to the point of dehydration.
Final Thought
Desperately attempts to recreate a character and experience that belongs to another era.