Review of Bridget Jones`s Diary

Introduction

It’s clearly been a good year for popular novels to receive the often deadly transubstantiation into film. ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ are phenomena for the kid in everyone, translated to money-snatching success; but Helen Fielding’s iconic ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ captures not only a peculiarly specific moment in the zeitgeist (fat, British, fledgling female 30-somethings) but has an appeal designed for a very specific audience (um, fat, British, fledgling female 30-somethings). Clearly, this slick Hollywood film, starring big, bankable names like Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant is an attempt to broaden the appeal of a popular, but distinctly marginalized heroine.

Video

It’s still strange, and rather distracting, to watch a visually stolid rom-com in ‘Scope, but the transfer is as impressive as we had any right to expect, with near perfect contrast and colour balance.

Audio

A serviceable 5.1 track, with sparse use of the rear channels unsurprising given the dialogue drive nature of the movie. The poppy score remains exquisitely annoying.

Features

There’s a nice commentary from the director, Sharon Maguire whose recollections are made more valuable by the fact that she happens to be one of Fielding’s best friends. Interestingly, this commentary was recorded for the US version of the DVD, which differs slightly from the Brit version, and Maguire politely points out the differences. Sadly, she’s rather less helpful when discussing the underlying issues at the heart of the vitriol so sourly expressed in Bridget’s diary, with Maguire simply announcing that the story “is a comedy about loneliness”. Add to this some deleted scenes which vary wildly from funny to hopelessly extraneous, the theatrical trailer, two insipid music videos and, and obligatory oddity: abridged versions of Bridget’s newspaper columns. A nice, modest collection.

Conclusion

A suitably awkward, funny and messy adaptation of Helen Fielding’s by now seminal post-feminist novels that does, thanks to the humor and occasional ingenuity of writer Richard Curtis, manage to broaden its horizons while still maintaining a cheekily British wit. Renee Zellweger is fine as the titular neurotic wage-slave slob, musing endlessly about her fat arse, copious alcohol abuse and failure at relationships. That is, before Hugh Grant’s dashingly sleazy boss strides onto her emotional radar and they begin a whirlwind romance. Unfortunately, forever invasive is emotionally aloof suitor Colin Firth who seems determined to mock Birdget’s self-esteem at every turn all-the-while secretly pining for her love.

It sounds like intolerably kitsch, pseudo-Austen crap, but fortunately the script is sharp and skittish, and the cast surprising and almost uniformly effective: Firth excels as Mark Darcy in a role that was quite literally designed for him and Hugh Grant is superb in a rare turn as a thoughtless but funny bastard. If the direction and plotting lack a certain finesse, if the endless romantic denouements become tiring and the obligatory ‘best-friends’ serve a perfunctory role, this is a considerably more charming and less cynical a slice of the Working Title pie than the appalling ‘Notting Hill’.

To be fair, Fielding’s amusing but not particularly interesting novel isn’t that myopic to begin with, but then again, I’m not one of the uneducated, solipsistic middle-Americans this film adaptation seems to be have been constructed for. Thankfully, most of the edges have been left on and Bridget Jones the movie is crusty, likeable and well performed. It also has quotable one liners in abundance, all together now: “There was a young woman from Ealing...”