Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy – A Heartfelt Send-Off

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy marks the final chapter of the Bridget Jones franchise. bringing back the majority of the cast from the previous entries. Taking place nine years after the events of Bridget Jones’ Baby, this installment finds Bridget Jones (Zellweger) navigating life as a widow and single mom following the tragic passing of her husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). With the help of her family, friends, and former lover Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), Bridget now finds herself pursued by the much younger Roxster (Woodall), while at the same time, developing feelings for her son’s science teacher Mr. Wallaker (Ejiofor). A film that is sure to please lifelong fans of this franchise, it delivers a heartfelt conclusion to both Bridget’s story and this franchise as a whole.

That being said, some audiences may not agree with upset by how the film handles its story, and the off screen death of Mark Darcy but once they get to witness the full picture, the result is a rather beautiful tale full of laughs, tears, and a meaningful message about moving on, letting go, and living one’s life to the fullest with the people they love. Definitely the most dramatic and moving of all the Bridget Jones films, it features several scenes that will surely bring a tear to audiences’ eyes but in the end, it is still a romcom at its core and never loses sight of that. Full of laughs, and a clever sense of humour, its cast prove to be more than up to the task as they executes it beautifully.

When it comes to Zellweger, she has not lost a beat, returning to her iconic role as Bridget Jones now nine years later, and is just as charming, funny, and relatable as ever. The Bridget Jones films are always giving her great arcs, and this film is no exception, offering up the most mature and personal of the bunch yet. Woodall and Ejiofor make for lovely additions to the cast as each have tremendous chemistry with Zellweger, especially Woodall whose career should only continue to explode from here. Meanwhile, it’s great seeing a lot of familiar faces return from Grant and Firth, to Gemma Jones (Pamela Jones), Jim Broadbent (Colin Jones), Emma Thompson (Dr. Rawlings), Shirley Henderson (Jude), and James Callis (Tom).

However, the return of Grant and Firth may leave a bit to be desired, as neither are given a whole ton to do as Darcy and Cleaver. Though Firth is given a much smaller role for aforementioned reasons, he fails to stand out in the little screen time he does have which is disappointing considering it is the last time audiences will get to see he and Zellweger share the screen as Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy. Grant, on the other hand, is better utilized as he seamlessly slips right back into the womanizing Cleaver like he never left. The scenes he and Zellweger share are undeniably the strongest in the film, while bringing a surprising amount of emotion to the table. It is a shame that there wasn’t nearly enough of them.

As with any of the Bridget Jones films, and quite frankly most modern romcoms in general, it becomes easy to predict nearly every direction it will go and to know exactly how it is going to end from the get-go, leaving very little in the way of surprises along the way. The longest film in the franchise, clocking in at just over 2-hours, it remains compelling throughout but there are several scenes that admittedly did not need to be there, leading it noticeably drag come the second act.

In the end, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy delivers a wholly satisfying conclusion with a beautiful ending that should please fans, even if the film may hit a few speed bumps along the way. For those who are fans of this franchise, then it is well worth a recommendation. However, it is just a shame that audiences in North America will not have the chance to see this one in a theatre as it has been relegated to a streaming release.

still courtesy of Universal Pictures

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/