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Bridget Jones's Diary

Movie Bridget Jones's Diary Director Sharon Maguire Producer Tim Bevan Cast Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth

By Ad-Lib One for the girls! That’s the first thing that I realized half way through the movie. Probing into the idiosyncrasies of the almost ultimate ambition of womanhood- and that is to find a mate. In fact we saw a flick like this a month or so back called Someone like you. Believe me, by the end of the movie you will see that there is more than just a striking resemblance and even the main score is the same. But without further delay let’s open Bridget Jones’s Diary. Set in present day England, Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) is a thirty-something publicist who spends Christmas and New Year alone year after year. Bridget’s mom (or “Mum” if you want to be British),just like her desi counterparts, tries to set her up with a divorced lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) who is a family friend. Of course he is pretty daft and blunt but not very open about his emotions. Bridget resolves that she will get a man and she makes a diary just to keep track. Oddly enough for a lot of the movie you don’t see too much of the diary. She has an extreme crush on her boss Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) who is supposed to be a sex god (Honestly, I don’t see the resemblance) and starts a lewd flirtation via email. After bumbling through a publicity event, she eventually lands up at Cleaver’s place but not before learning that his fiancée-to-be was actually bedded by Mark! (Small world isn’t it!) Their relationship progresses, though mostly through degrees of sexual feats. But eventually, being the playboy he is, Cleaver leaves Bridget just before a “tarts and vicars party” (Yes folks, this is where you see Renee in the bunny suit.) Incidentally even Bridget’s parents are going through case of infidelity. Bridget goes back to London to find Cleaver with another woman to whom he is to be engaged. This breaks the poor girl and after a stint of depression she picks herself up, tries to lose weight, insults Cleaver while quitting her job and joins up with a TV Company as a reporter. Mark Darcy takes over the responsibility of wooing her, which he does very convincingly, despite being involved himself. But out of nowhere comes Cleaver trying to win the heart of Bridget. Eventually after an odd and very “British” bar fight Bridget decides who should be her man for life. Somehow the men will never understand Bridget’s obsession with marriage; so guys bring your pillows along to the theatre. Direction is very well coordinated but dialogues are filled with gaps that cause you to wonder why the movie is so boring before the interval. Characters are played superbly; especially Renee’s considering she is a Texan with a “Cotton-pickin” accent. Bridget Jones’s Diary can be a bit confusing and painful at parts but the Brit-comedy should keep your funny bone satisfied. On the whole, after waiting for the movie to arrive to the sub-continent, I was really disappointed!