Why the beloved character still speaks to generations of women.
Twenty-four years of Bridget Jones, and she is still as relatable to us all. With a record-breaking opening weekend, the fourth film in the Bridget Jones universe, ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’ has officially been released and dare I say, it might be the best one yet.
The film opens with Bridget at home, rushing to get ready to go out for the first time in a long time. Now a mother of two young children, Billy and Mabel, Bridget’s life looks a little different; she’s out of her Borough Market flat and into a house in Hampstead. However, her same signature chaos remains ever-present, showing us that no one really has it together all the time.
Of course, many of our favourite characters made their return. Bridget’s parents, mother Pam and father Colin (even though only in a flashback, his character having died between the third and fourth instalment), Bridget’s gang; Tom, Shazzer and Jude and of course, the one and only resurrected Daniel Cleaver, Bridget’s ex-boyfriend-turned-friend, who arrives to her rescue to babysit Billy and Mabel, not without his shiny red sportscar, though.
However, sadly, one fan favourite didn’t make it, as our beloved Mark Darcy was revealed to have been killed four years previously while on a humanitarian mission in Sudan. Colin Firth does appear in flashbacks set before Mark’s death and as his spirit guiding Bridget and the children along. (Get the tissues ready for those bits; I was a mess). Not to mention the symbolism of a snowy owl who watches over the family from the garden, showing that Mark’s spirit has never left them.
Bridget, while out of the world of work, reenters the dating world, but it looks a bit different this time around. She meets a younger man, Roxter, played by the star of last year’s Netflix adaptation of ‘One Day’ Leo Woodall. The two enter a whirlwind relationship, giving Bridget back that connection she needs, but it ends with Roxter ghosting her (rude). On the upside, there is another prospect for Bridge: Billy’s no-nonsense science teacher, Mr Wallaker. Bridget butts heads with him multiple times over his mindset. The two become closer while on an orienteering trip with Billy’s class.
Lots of callbacks to the other movies were made: Billy wearing a mini-version of his dad’s reindeer jumper, the big knickers, cocktails that looked like blue soup and one Daniel named the ‘Dirty Bitch’, as he called Bridget on a date in the first film. These genius incorporations added to the nostalgia of the film series throughout the past almost twenty-five years.
The film’s end wraps up the series neatly; Bridget and the kids write letters and draw pictures for Mark, attach them to balloons and send them into the air, letting go of their grief for him. It also ends on New Year’s Eve, a callback to previous films, as this time of year is important for Bridget, having met Mark at her mother’s New Year’s turkey curry buffet, and she would start a new diary each New Year. And for the first time in years, Bridget Jones ends the year a singleton no more.
Even without her romantic interests, Bridget is still as fabulous as always, even more so now that she is much more self-accepting each time we revisit her, embracing whatever chaos life throws at her, a role model to generations of women everywhere.
5/5 stars.