Bridget Jones’s Baby: An uplifting, heartwarming and hilarious sequel

The first one is a classic. The second one arguably not so much so. So what can be said of the third in the Bridget Jones series? This time we meet Jones slightly later in life with the film opening on her 43^rd birthday as she is once again found in the same familiar situation: alone, nursing a glass of wine and tragically miming to the radio in a pair of oversized pyjamas. But as we know, Bridget Jones isn’t one to stay down in the dumps for long. She soon finds herself torn between the romantic advances of two men: the serious but still ever-so-charming ex-flame Mark Darcy and the dashingly handsome American love scientist Jack Quant, a sparkly new addition to the saga. The real cog in the works this time? A baby.

Set in London and based around a simple “who’s-the-father?” narrative, Bridget Jones’s Baby showcases many similarities to the much-loved first film. We see the same old Bridget (even if Renée Zellweger’s somewhat altered appearance does initially take a little getting used to) plunging into the same disastrously embarrassing situations as she always has done with a friendly amount of slapstick and a number of hilarious one-liners thrown in for good measure. Emma Thompson, in the role of straight-talking Dr Rowling, and Sarah Solemani, playing Jones’s audacious colleague Miranda, are standout new cast member who deliver sharply witty performances throughout and refresh the familiar original line-up. The script itself is stripped back, funny and very human, reiterating this hark back to the original Bridget Jones and at the same time distancing itself from the less successful outrageousness of the sequel.

Whilst it may not boast a shocking level of originality or any breakthrough ideas, the long-awaited comeback of Bridget Jones is an uplifting, heartwarming and hilarious watch in exactly the way we would have hoped for. Forget any negative preconceptions surrounding disappointing third instalments of rom-com series, head to the cinema and go gaga over Bridget Jones’s Baby.

Michelle Keepence

Bridget Jones’s Baby is released nationwide on 16^th September 2016.

Watch the trailer for Bridget Jones’s Baby here: