Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

Movies every night, eh? Not sick of my reviews yet I hope! I’m trying to keep them assorted and last night I worked on the pile I had stacked on the side of my table and pulled up this romantic comedy Bridget Jones’s Diary.  I have never read the book of this.  Seems like there’s so many adaptations out there that I have actually read the source material.  This has Colin Firth and I love him 🙂 Plus it has Hugh Grant and he can be quite charming at times…Okay, let me get out of the swooning mode and to the review..

Director: Sharon Maguire

Cast: Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent

Bridget Jones is a early 30s girl who hasn’t dated very much and works at a publishing company. Every year on her mother’s annual party, her mother tries to match her up with single men.  This year, she sets her up with a childhood companion (who she does not remember) and is a barrister called Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).  When he turns out to be a disagreeable and rude divorced man.  She leaves in despair and she decides to start a diary to document her resolutions where she vows to stop drinking, quit smoking and lose weight.  At this time, her charming but not very respectable boss Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) shows an interest in her and sends her some provocative emails (which she returns) and eventually they go out for a dinner date.  As they grow closer, she also learns that he is actually seeing a woman and is engaged to her.  Afterwards, she quits her job and starts working as a TV presenter and its at this time,  she seems to be noticing Mark around her social circles more and more frequently and secretly find him more attractive.  When Mark starts showing interest, Daniel also returns to show his affections as well.  Due to past issues, they both end up fighting for her affections.

This has most probably shot up to my top 10 favorite romantic comedies if I had a list of one.  Its funny, quirky, witty and at times silly British humor which I love mixed with a cute and silly romantic adventure.  This movie is a gem.  Its just so fun to watch and I found myself laughing and giggling and doing all these girly things throughout the movie.

I`m not much of a Renee Zellweger fan.  I haven`t followed a lot of her movies but this role made me completely praise her. It looks that it would’ve taken a lot of courage to do this role.  Bridget is a role thats hard to do because she had to expose a lot of craziness. The character itself was a girl that would binge alcohol and smoke a lot, but at the same time she was somewhat of a ditz.  She was looking for a man who would just love her the way she was as an average girl.  Renee Zellweger did this amazingly.  She was funny, quirky and extremely likeable.  Her reactions and the things that she did was sometimes hilarious.  Her chemistry with both Hugh Grant’s Daniel and Colin Firth’s Mark was awesome. Plus, I felt connected with her character quickly into the movie. Thats always a good thing 🙂

I’m just going to start with Hugh Grant.  I like him a lot of roles however I’ve never really seen him as a guy who was all about fun.  He felt somewhat pretentious. I’m guessing his role needed that because he’s supposed to be somewhat of a person scared to commit to long-term however, he was also seeing two women at the same time.  Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant played off each other well and the chemistry was really fun to watch as they engaged into a more fun and sexual relationship.  However, we could see that he was the man that she first resolved to not date and hoped that he wasn’t like that.

The chemistry between Colin Firth’s Mark and Bridget was different.  It was a building of emotions.  Things were slower as they got to know each other better.  Colin Firth is a charming actor as always.  He just plays the quiet and analytical character.  He’s a gentleman who doesn’t talk bad of others and somewhat holds in his feelings until they explode.  I guess Bridget is his exact opposite so he becomes attracted to her.  This is what makes the fight between him and Daniel is so much more hilarious. Funny thing though, is that I never quite understood why I’m so into Colin Firth’s characters.  He always looks so…serious, I guess, but I think its the way he emotes with his eyes.  Anyways, I love the man, just can’t pinpoint why.

I love this rom-com and highly recommend it.  Such a fun flick to watch packed with lots and lots of laughs.