This is part of a series of No Shame Movie Reviews. For reasons I won’t speculate and rant about now, we have been told that only some movies are worth enjoying. Only artsy movies with a meaningful and/or ambiguous message, perhaps. To that, I say phooey. I say that you should be able to watch and enjoy any movie you want – from low-budget children’s movies to dramas about the hopelessly romantic. If you enjoy them, then why the heck should you not be able to watch them without shame?
I love Pride and Prejudice. I know that is the cliché favorite book of pretentious high school and college girls, but it’s true. I absolutely love it, as well as pretty much everything based on or inspired by it. Sue me. That includes 2001’s crass version of 1813’s Elizabeth Bennet. Yes, I’m talking about Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) smokes too much and drinks too much. She can’t lose those last few pounds, and therefore can’t decide whether to wear cute panties or granny panties. She’s unlucky with love and can never keep a New Year’s Resolution. She’s terrible at public speaking and, well, speaking to people in general. She wakes up with no makeup and hair that isn’t perfectly coiffed.
So basically she’s hilarious and relatable and just plain fantastic.
The movie is all tied together by Bridget’s sly, snarky, sassy, absolutely hilarious voiceover (couldn’t think of a way to make that last one alliterative…). She doesn’t hesitate to tell us the god-honest truth, which is what I think makes this movie so great. It plays with the idea of fantasy and wish fulfillment, as many movies do, but it also looks very honestly at this quite screwed up woman. It doesn’t dance around her faults. She quite literally lists them in the very first scene! But that makes her feel so real, makes her so much more than just that pretty woman falling in love on my TV screen. It makes her a person and it makes me genuinely want her to succeed.
One of my favorite parts of Bridget Jones’s Diary (What am I saying? Most of it is one of my favorite parts, but I digress…) is Colin Firth. Not only does he have the appeal of simply being Colin Firth, but also he’s playing Mark Darcy, a character based on Colin Firth’s 1995 portrayal of Fitzwilliam Darcy in the BBC’s magically wonderful mini-series adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Collin is perfect for the role of Darcy, no matter which incarnation. He has the fantastic ability to show us Darcy’s vulnerable, uncomfortable, true self underneath an outer veneer of pride (or is it prejudice?).
The other main character is Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), aka the love interest who isn’t Mr. Darcy – essentially a sleazy womanizer. The problem is, though, he’s damn good at being a sleazy womanizer. You know he’s icky, for lack of a better word, but can’t help but fall for his charming smiles and pre-planned pickup lines. His Mr. Wickham (apologies if you haven’t read the original and this confuses you, but not really because you should read the original) exudes more than enough charm to make all of England fall for him.
Spoiler alert, if that’s really necessary for a book published more than TWO HUNDRED years ago, but Bridget Jones’s Diary stays true to all the major plot points of Pride and Prejudice. Basically, that means it turns me into a pile of goo that can’t help but smile and giggle at every terrible awkward moment and perfectly romantic line. What more can you ask for?
And there we have it. Just a few of the reasons that you should not be ashamed to watch and enjoy Bridget Jones’s Diary. If you have any ideas for a movie that you want me to review, then let me know! Bad, fun, silly, adorable, enjoyable, romantic, anything that you shouldn’t be ashamed to watch and love! (Bonus cookies if it’s also on Netflix.)
Image Credit: IMDB; Netflix