Bridget Jones's Diary

Dir: Sharon Maguire

2001

**

Bridget Jones's Diary, based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Helen Fielding, is a modern adaption of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice but with a contemporary (and contemptible) twist. The question one has to ask is whether there are women who are like Bridget Jones in real life? There probably are, but how many of them would admit to being happy about the comparison? I know quite a few women who read the book when it came out, half liked it and the other half loathed it. The ones that loathed it passed it off as unrealistic and ridiculous clap-trap and the ones that liked it all seemed to fear that they were either like or could turn into a Bridget Jones type character. I get the fear of being single in your early thirties, it is just the insulting stereotyping that I don't understand. Also, why like something you technically don't like? I'm clearly overthinking it but then I would argue that many people who like this nonsense under-think a lot of the rubbish they watch. Pride and Prejudice is a classic, much of its content can translate into today's way of life but a lot of it can't and for me Bridget Jones's Diary just doesn't make any sense. As a character she is terribly written, her persona constantly contradicting her actions and the story's narration (as is written in the diary). The script is awful, the awkward scenes are excruciating, I know they're supposed to be but they are excruciating in the wrong sort of way. Having Colin Firth as Bridget's 'Mr Darcy' is a bit of a cheap shot, given Firth's famous portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the popular 1995 TV adaptation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice - a clear influence, but I suppose it was something of a coup for Fielding and her fans. Firth and Hugh Grant (who also stared in an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in Ang Lee's 1995 film) pulled in the punters and having Richard Curtis's name down as a screenplay co-author (really, how much input did he actually have?) certainly got people's attention, particularly as he and Grant were seen as a hit team following Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill. I think what I find most contemptible about the story is just how lucky and successful Bridget Jones is, while all she can do is moan about how unlucky she is. I found it impossible to warm to her. I hate all the Home Counties stuff, the fact she acts like no thirty-two year old acts and lives in what would be a million pound flat if it were real. I don't understand why Renée Zellweger was cast as Bridget (actually I do, Jerry Maguire), I can think of many other actors better suited, I don't really care that she's American but I can think of a few British Actors who would have been better. How she was nominated for an Oscar is anyone's guess, slow year I suppose. I liked Colin Firth's performance but always felt he was too good for the film, it is a confused load of nonsense that I think women should reject. If you don't agree the film is confused then I would draw your attention to the film's two big cameos, Salman Rushdie and Jeffrey Archer, I can't help but think it is trying to please everyone but pleases no one, not those concentrating anyway.