Bridget Jones's Baby Director: Sharon Maguire
Cast: Renée Zellweger, Patrick Dempsey, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, Sarah Solemani,
It's been 12 years since we last encountered Bridget Rose Jones (2004’s The Edge of Reason), and atleast half that since we last saw leading lady Renee Zellweger in a major feature film.
Enter Bridget Jones's Baby, the opening scene of which depicts a drunken bedraggled Bridget alone on her 43rd birthday (yes, she is 43 in the film although she looks much closer to her actual 47), celebrating with a cupcake on the sofa.
She is living in the same flat, is still single and unlucky at love, has the same job at the TV company, and the same circle of friends. Most importantly, she is still the same endearingly mortified klutz, albeit thinner....and older...and with a forehead that ceases to crease thanks to some botox.
She muses the unlikelihood of ever giving birth (all her friends have kids) and that she’ll never be a MILF, but a SILF (where the “S” stands is for spinster).
Then comes a weedkend of hedonism (at an obscure music festival somewhere) where she sleeps with an American matchmaking mogul called Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey). A week later she runs into her old flame and litigator Mark Darcy played by Colin Firth, and they end up in bed together as well.
Three-four weeks later, surprise, surprise, thanks to some past-their-expiration date dodgy vegan condoms, Bridget is pregnant. And geriatrically so, as Emma Thompson who plays her ob/gyn is prone to tell us.
But whose baby is it? That is what the rest of the movie is about and while it seems like the trio is heading towards forming a polyamorous unit (which would have been a much more satisfying ending...either that or Bridget doing it alone), there is a straight-choice finale.
Zellweger, as we said, is older and she looks considerably so, but we cannot fault her acting prowess. Dempsey looks like he is bored and isn't even trying to essay his role well. That being said, he is still as dreamy as ever. There is even a shot of him ripping his shirt off to 'dive' to the rescue of the heroine. Colin Firth, on the other hand, reprises his role from the earlier film (he is now in the process of getting a divorce from his wife Camilla) and remains as uppity as ever.
The script, written by Fielding, along with Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson, is consistently amusing, and the dialogues (and Zellweger) make you smile throughout. Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones back as Bridget’s parents, and Sarah Solemani looks simply delightful as a TV presenter.
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Header: Did you know
Makers of the latest Bridget Jones film have created legal history by using the UK Supreme Court as a location.
Scenes in Bridget Jones's Baby were shot in Court One of the Supreme Court building in London.
Audiences can see lawyer Mark Darcy - played by actor Colin Firth - arguing at a hearing before fictional Supreme Court justices.
A Supreme Court spokesman said a courtroom had not been used as a film location before.
He said justices had given their approval.
"(We) agreed to let film-makers use a courtroom as part of a wider programme of generating income to ease pressure on the public purse," said the spokesman.
"A film crew spent one weekend in the building, avoiding any disruption to court business."
He added: "We were pleased to have the chance to open up the building to a new audience through the cinema screen."
