Bridget Jones's Diary (Collector's Edition)
by Sharon Maguire
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DVD details
Actor: Celia Imrie, Colin Firth, Gemma Jones, Hugh Grant, Renée ZellwegerDirector: Sharon Maguire
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Producer: Debra Hayward
Producer: Eric Fellner
Producer: Helen Fielding
Writer: Helen Fielding
Producer: Jonathan Cavendish
Writer: Andrew Davies
Writer: Richard Curtis
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-11-09
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Miramax
DVD Reviews of Bridget Jones's Diary (Collector's Edition)
DVD Review: A romantic comedy with actual comedy!
Summary: 5 Stars
Much had been made back when Renée Zellweger landed the role of one of England's most recent iconic characters, Bridget Jones, a thirtysomething woman looking for love while dealing with her job, wacky parents, well-meaning yet misguided friends, and of course, the perils of her love life. Yet Ms. Zellweger pulled off Bridget flawlessly.
Yes, Bridget is not the prototype of the Independent Woman. And I think it is on purpose. The movie, in my opinion, is about not being perfect but struggling to accept the flaws all women have, so exaggeration can be handy in that regard. And poor Bridget does have her moments, from dinner parties with Smug Marrieds to bunny suits to caddish but handsome bosses that she knows she should avoid, yet cannot stay away from. What woman has not been attracted to the "wrong" man despite their better judgment?
Speaking of the caddish boss, Hugh Grant seemed to have loads of fun once he got to shed the stumbling, bumbling persona he is usually known for in his other roles. Daniel Cleaver is slick, smooth, and uses his good looks to entice Bridget - and a lot of other women. And he loves the thrill of the chase. He is not, however, honest and faithful, something that Bridget finds out in a most humiliating way, which leads to...
Colin Firth's Mark Darcy. As many likely know, Mark and Bridget's first meeting and subsequent relationship is based on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". Both Mark and Bridget are pressured by their respective parents to meet at the annual New Year's shindig, the turkey curry buffet, where Mark is rude to Bridget and insults her. From that point on, Bridget dislikes Mark, as well. Yet wherever Bridget is - be it a disastrous book launch party, staying at the same getaway spot as her and Daniel, or at that same Smug Marrieds dinner party - he is there, and always seems to catch Bridget at her most humiliating. (Perhaps this is what makes his declaration after said dinner party all the more endearing.) Colin Firth, on the surface, has the most thankless role as Mark Darcy, who is more severe and staid. But, like with the original story of P&P - a production he starred in and, of course - inspired Ms. Fielding to model Mark after - the metamorphosis is great. Colin Firth can say more with a small smile or with his eyes. But between Mark's aforementioned declaration, his helping Bridget out professionally [check out their faces during the courtroom interview scene], and being Bridget's white knight again at Bridget's own birthday dinner, it becomes apparent there is more to Mark beneath the surface, as Bridget comes to realize - almost too late. But, as it is a movie, she does - and the final scenes, to me, put the "romantic" in romantic comedy. And Zellweger and Firth had fabulous chemistry. As did Grant/Zellweger. So there are no complaints in the romance area to be had. (Firth/Grant were also hilarious and had great antagonistic chemistry as rivals.)
As for the comedy part? Check out the much-discussed Daniel/Mark fight scene! Hilarious. Only they can halt the almost girl-like fighting to sing happy birthday. (And there is a similar fight in the sequel involving a fountain. Thus showing TPTB knew the first fight was classic enough to do a retread!) Add in Bridget's flighty mother and chronically bemused/depressed father, and the laughs keep coming.
Bridget's friends offer a nice framework for the laughs as well as heart - even if they are sadly underused here versus the book, but at ninety minutes, it is inevitable that some things from the book get short shrift in the movie. That said, Sally Phillips as Sharon/"Shazza" was a riot.
If you're looking for a movie where the heroine is self assured and is confident in herself without needing anyone else? This is NOT the movie for you. Ms. Fielding and those who wrote the movie seemed to like to mock all of the insecurities with weight, sex, and families that women moan about (thus making Bridget sort of an "Every Woman") and, for comedy's sake, it is much more exaggerated in the film than in the book. Bridget does get herself in some uncomfortable spots. But, despite her pratfalls, she does pick herself up - after moping, as some do - and carries on. But since the movie deals largely with her torn between two men, she is not the role model for the modern woman, although it is what Bridget WISHES she was, hence the smart irony of it all.
That said, if you are NOT looking for some deep meaning and just want some romance with a dose of comedy to chase the blues away? Sit back, grab the ice cream and/or a glass of wine, and enjoy!
Description of Bridget Jones's Diary (Collector's Edition)
Academy Award(R) winner Renée Zellweger (Best Supporting Actress, COLD MOUNTAIN, 2003; CHICAGO) and Hugh Grant (LOVE ACTUALLY, TWO WEEKS NOTICE) star in a delightful comedy about the ups and downs of modern romance. Bridget (Zellweger), a busy career woman, decides to turn over a new page in her life by channeling her thoughts, opinions and insecurities into a journal that becomes a hilarious chronicle of her adventures. Soon she becomes the center of attention between a guy who's too good to be true (Grant) and another who's so wrong for her, he could be just right (Colin Firth -- LOVE ACTUALLY)! Based on the best-selling book, BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY is another acclaimed crowd-pleaser from the hit makers of FOUR WEDDING AND A FUNERAL and NOTTING HILL.Featuring a blowzy, winningly inept size-12 heroine, Bridget Jones's Diary is a fetching adaptation of Helen Fielding's runaway bestseller, grittier than Ally McBeal but sweeter than Sex and the City. The normally sylphlike Renée Zellweger (Nurse Betty, Me, Myself and Irene) wolfed pasta to gain poundage to play "singleton" Bridget, a London-based publicist who divides her free time between binge eating in front of the TV, downing Chardonnay with her friends, and updating the diary in which she records her negligible weight fluctuations and romantic misadventures of the year. Things start off badly at Christmas when her mother tries to set her up with seemingly standoffish lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), whom Bridget accidentally overhears dissing her. Instead she embarks on a disastrous liaison with her raffish boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, infinitely more likeable when he's playing a baddie instead of his patented tongue-tied fops). Eventually, Bridget comes to wonder if she's let her pride prejudice her against the surprisingly attractive Mr. Darcy.
If the plot sounds familiar, that's because Fielding's novel was itself a retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, whose romantic male lead is also named Mr. Darcy. An extra ironic poke in the ribs is added by the casting of Firth, who played Austen's haughty hero in the acclaimed BBC adaptation of Austen's novel. First-time director Sharon Maguire directs with confident comic zest, while Zellweger twinkles charmingly, fearlessly baring her cellulite and pulling off a spot-on English accent. Like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill (both of which were written by this film's coscreenwriter, Richard Curtis), Bridget Jones's stock-in-trade is a very English self-deprecating sense of humor, a mild suspicion of Americans (especially if they're thin and successful), and a subtly expressed analysis of thirtysomething fears about growing up and becoming a "smug married." The whole is, as Bridget would say, v. good. --Leslie Felperin
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