Everyone’s favorite contemporary British heroine is back: Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) is now successful, at her ideal weight, and alas still single. In Bridget Jones’s Baby, she has two surprising one-night stands with different men: an American dating guru (Patrick Dempsey) and her former flame Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Then she’s pregnant: who could the father be? Will we see misunderstandings and shenanigans along the lines of a typical Three’s Company episode? Unfortunately, yes…yes, we do.
The original 2001 Bridget Jones’s Diary remains a mini-classic of its kind: one of the most dignified and intelligent of its genre (romantic comedy), yet it also transcends the genre, truly plumbing some depth (as mainstream movies go) about accepting who you really are, and understanding what love actually is. It went beyond your typical “boy and girl like each other because they’re in a movie together as leads” mentality and went to the heart of the characters’ specifics. With sharp, interesting acting from its three leads (Zellweger, Firth, and Hugh Grant), the film had snap and verve; it felt vital.
Diary’s skilled director, Sharon Maguire, didn’t return for the first sequel (Beyond Reason) but is back in the chair for Baby...
She’s not quite as sure-footed this time around. The first ten minutes of the movie recreate the feel of the first film, but the energy and pacing aren’t quite there, and it's slightly forced. The original film’s wonderful supporting cast also doesn’t have quite the bite this time around, but it’s lovely to see them again. Then, for the next two reels, Maguire relaxes a bit and remembers to lean heavily on Zellweger’s natural charm and timing…this stretch, until about the one hour mark, is the best part of the film. The pratfalls may seem a bit much, but Bridget’s awkwardness is a comic treasure mine, and the movie dips into it often and the laughs are there.
When we get to the point where it’s a Dempsey-and-Firth competition, which is how the movie is fully being marketed, Baby becomes very soggy. It hits the kind of uninspired sitcom lows that make people criticize the romantic comedy genre in the first place. The Baby team should know better, because they’ve done better. And I think the casting of Dempsey was a crucial mistake. Despite one’s feelings about some of their weaker performances, I think it’s more than fair to say both Zellweger and Firth are heavyweights…they have potency and gravitas, and natural screen power. Dempsey is a lightweight…his presence lowers the dramatic stakes of the movie, and while he doesn’t embarrass himself, he’s not their equal, and you keep imagining what a surprising firecracker actor like Colin Farrell or even Jon Hamm might bring to the picture.
But Bridget Jones’s Baby rests ultimately on Zellweger. Her performance in the original film is arguably her high-water mark: sexy, unruly, edgy, impulsive, all fully within her control as an actress. Her love for the character translates to the screen. For the most part, in Baby, she avoids getty too scrunchy-cute and keeps things simple and honest. She’s been away from screens long enough for us to miss her, and her return as Bridget feels right: it’s easy to remember why we fell in love with her in the first place, with that terrific work she did in Jerry Maguire, Nurse Betty, One True Thing and the original Bridget. This new film doesn’t allow her to scale any major heights, but it’s a fitting and wonderful return.