Bridget Jones’s Baby Sky Cinema Review

Andy Psyllides | Sky Cinema – September 2016

Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) is back on the big screen and – as per usual – trouble isn’t too far away. Despite being 43 and single she refuses to let life get her down, pushing on with her career as a TV news producer and partying with younger presenter pal Sarah Solemani. It looks like things are on the up, but after a pair of one-night stands and the use of some dodgy, dolphin-friendly condoms she winds up pregnant. Is the father US dating guru Jack (Patrick Dempsey) or old flame Mark Darcy (Colin Firth)? Original director Sharon Maguire is back calling the shots, while top support comes from the likes of Jim Broadbent and Emma Thompson.

After a shaky second outing Bridget Jones is back on form. The ball was dropped with 2004’s The Edge of Reason, but reuniting star Renée Zellweger with original director Sharon Maguire seems to have done the trick. 

The result is a crowd-pleasing romantic comedy that counteracts predictable plotting and a baggy final third with a healthy laugh count and a real sense of warmth.

Both are key to the film’s success – the latter coming to the rescue when things get a little too cosy and run of the mill. 

An early glamping episode featuring eye-rolling slapstick (an overdressed Bridget meets a muddy bog) and an extended celebrity cameo undeniably overstays its welcome, but the characters are so likeable and the chemistry between them so strong that you’re happy to stay the course.

When it comes to comic set-pieces the good also definitely outweighs the bad. Almost every scene in Bridget’s TV news studio is gold, particularly a mix-up that sees the excellent Sarah Solemani unwittingly declare her sympathy for a ruthless dictator because of an unfortunately timed phone call. 

Hugh Grant’s no-showing media playboy is somehow involved, although it wouldn’t be fair to reveal precisely how. The handling of his absence is another real highlight.

Speaking of Bridget’s love interests, tried and trusted definitely wins over flashy and new. Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) does a solid job as an American prince charming, but with little real meat to the role he’s comfortably outshined by Colin Firth’s buttoned-up lawyer, Mark Darcy. As ever, his awkward, uptight ways are a reliable and consistent source of amusement.

As good as Firth and the rest of the main cast are, nobody can hold a candle to Emma Thompson. Her weary, seen-it-all doctor is an absolute joy, doing enough in a handful of appearances to single-handedly justify the film’s existence.

Every moment she’s on screen counts as a standout, although nothing quite beats her warning to dads wanting to be in the delivery room: “There’s not a lot you can gain from being at the coal face gentlemen. My ex-husband said it was like watching his favourite pub burn down.”