In 2001, the world was gifted Bridget Jones’s Diary, starring Renée Zellweger as the тιтular Bridget Jones, and took its place in the hallowed halls of rom-com history. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the fourth installment, sees the return of Zellweger’s Bridget who, over 20 years later, is back where she started, looking for love. The similarities more or less end there. This isn’t the freewheeling Bridget we’ve come to know, but thanks to Zellweger, she has her own charm. Mad About the Boy doesn’t hit the marks of a Bridget Jones film, but it’s a perfectly respectable final act.
This time around, Bridget isn’t being chased by Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, though they do make a few appearances, but by the younger Roxster (Leo Woodall) and the more age-appropriate Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor). It’s no secret, thanks to the trailer, that the movie begins in the wake of Darcy’s (Firth) death, leaving Bridget as a single mother of two weighed down by grief. It’s a serious emotional low to begin the film on, and Mad About the Boy leans into this sadness throughout the narrative.
Setting the tone early works in the movie’s favor, as this is a story about Bridget moving on and rebuilding herself rather than an epic tale of true love. Bridget already had her happily-ever-after many times over at this point. Mad About the Boy understands that it has to justify its existence to convince us the making of this movie was more than monetizing nostalgia. This is why the film leans so heavily on her connection to Darcy and the children, even as she’s falling in love for what I hope is the last time.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Sacrifices Romance For Self-Growth
We Never Get The Chance To Truly Know Her Love Interests
I wanted desperately to fall in love with these new men in Bridget’s life the way I did with Daniel and Mark so many years ago. Unfortunately, Woodall’s Roxster is one-dimensional and a far cry from the deliciously bad Daniel. While Ejiofor is arrestingly genuine as Mr. Wallaker, he and Bridget don’t have the undeniable sparks of Zellweger and Firth. This isn’t Ejiofor’s fault, as the actor is doubtlessly one of the best parts of Mad About the Boy. However, the movie never lets us get close enough to learn anything real about these men or their connections with Bridget.
In the midst of these larger conversations about falling in love later in life and finding your footing during life’s second act, there are some genuinely funny moments. Bridget has a few good gags and a compelling Sєx scene. Mad About the Boy is easy to watch and requires little of us besides some laughs and tears at the appropriate moments. It’s inoffensive and honestly enjoyable most of the time, but Mad About the Boy doesn’t have the luxury of existing in a vacuum. The ghost of the better original movie haunts every second of the project.
Bridget is an established, well-off, middle-aged woman who faces virtually no obstacles in restarting her life after her husband’s death.
One of the best parts about the first Bridget Jones is that she grows and develops significantly throughout the movie, and Mad About the Boy continues this trend. However, Bridget is an established, well-off, middle-aged woman who faces virtually no obstacles in restarting her life after her husband’s death. The few bumps she hits along the way do nothing to derail her outside of one wine-soaked montage. Besides being generally unkempt, Bridget faces few setbacks and is unaffected by the comments of others, even if she finds them vaguely annoying.
Of course, I didn’t want to see Bridget fail, but a good rom-com puts the protagonists through their paces before giving them their happy ending. Bridget Jones’s Diary forces her to work for the change she wants in her life and the love she desires. In Mad About the Boy, Bridget just stumbles upon self-actualization and a flock of men who find her irresistible. The genre lends itself to these types of fantasies, and while there’s a place for magic and nonsensical romance in movies like this one, they only hit home after the characters have struggled.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Demonstrates Why The Modern Rom-Com Is Struggling
Like The Romantic Comedy, Mad About The Boy Isn’t Sure Of Its Place In The Modern World
I was disappointed that Mad About the Boy isn’t getting a theatrical release. A sequel like this, releasing around Valentine’s Day, could easily do well at the box office. However, the decision to put the movie directly on streaming is the writing on the wall. Rom-coms have changed a lot since Bridget Jones’s Diary came out. However, studios, writers, and filmmakers still haven’t figured out how to bring them into the contemporary era without losing the essence of what made them so iconic in the ’90s and early 2000s.
The director, Michael Morris, does a good job bringing Helen Fielding’s script to life. Mad About the Boy is visually appealing, retaining the cozy, lived-in quality that drew me into Bridget’s world so long ago. While this atmosphere is an important quality that connects the Bridget Jones universe, it’s emblematic of how much Mad About the Boy relies on our past adoration and interest in Bridget to propel the story. Without the rather obvious references to the previous works, Mad About the Boy would lose its connection to Bridget, as she and her world have changed a lot.
This doesn’t mean this new Bridget is worse or less likable; she’s just different. Her priorities and values have changed because that’s what happens throughout a person’s life. It’s compelling that we have been able to follow Bridget through her many evolutions, and stories about older women and their Sєxual liberation have been carving out a fantastic niche in modern cinema. However, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is missing something essential. Despite all the emotional moments and conversations about grief, I felt estranged from the heart of the story.
