While Isla Fisher has a fun cameo in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, this wasted appearance has all the hallmarks of a subplot that was cut for time. The Bridget Jones movies are not short on star power. 2001’s iconic original Bridget Jones’s Diary starred Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant, but also featured cameos for Salman Rushdie and Honor Blackman and supporting roles for Embeth Davidtz and Celia Imrie. 2004’s sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason brought back the central trio as well as adding Jessica Hynes to the cast.
By 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby, Patrick Dempsey and Emma Thompson had joined the starry lineup, and Ed Sheeran appeared in a cameo. Not be outdone, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy brings back Hugh Grant’s character even though he was presumed ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in an earlier movie, brings back Firth as a ghostly presence even though his character is canonically ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, and adds Leo Woodall, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Isla Fisher to the cast. However, the last of these additions is limited to a cameo that can’t help but feel like a missed opportunity.
Isla Fisher’s Role In Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Is Bizarre
The Dog-Man Star Appears As A Frazzled Mother Briefly Berating Her Children
Early on in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Bridget sees her neighbor Rebecca going to war with her children over their behaviour. If Bridget is perpetually frazzled, Rebecca is an outright mess and her battle with her children spills out into the street as she threatens to toss their computer out the window. Isla Fisher’s brief role as Rebecca is a very funny sequence, and she seems like a kindred spirit to Bridget. As such, it is bizarre when this quirky neighbor is never seen or mentioned again.
While Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy makes many changes to the 2013 novel of the same name, this is one of the most striking. Rebecca is a character in the novel, but there she and Bridget become friends, which is what seems to be set up by Bridget’s first interaction with her. When Bridget’s children ask why she never speaks to a flustered neighbor, Bridget replies “Never meet your heroes.” It’s implied that she is impressed by Rebecca’s refreshing way of dealing with her kids, but nothing ever comes from this setup.
Isla Fisher’s Character Rebecca Has A Bigger Role In The Novel
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Sees Rebecca Befriend Bridget
Since her co-worker Miranda is living a blissful child-free single life and Bridget views Leila Farzzd’s seemingly perfect school mum Nicolette as her enemy, it would make perfect sense for Bridget to befriend Fisher’s character Rebecca. The pair have parenthood in common and, judging by the fact that Rebecca’s partner is never seen on-screen, they may even both be single parents. Fisher’s character isn’t insufferably poised like Nicolette and, if anything, her frazzled demeanor might make Bridget feel better about her imperfect but loving setup.
From what viewers see in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, none of Bridget’s close friends discuss child-rearing with her either. Although Shazzer, Tom, and Jude appear numerous times, they don’t discuss the ups and downs of family life with Bridget. While Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’s returning characters are fun, it’s pretty obvious that the movie is missing a fellow strained mother figure for Bridget to empathize with. It’s even more obvious that Fisher’s character was intended to fulfill that role at some point, particularly considering her actor’s high profile.
Failing to utilize Fisher for more than a brief cameo is a wasted opportunity that proves one of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’s biggest mistakes.
From Scooby Doo to Wedding Crashers to H๏τ Rod, to Bachelorette, to Tag, Fisher is one of the most gifted comedic performers of her time. To make matters worse, she was currently starring in the number one movie in America, Dog Man, at the time of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’s release. Failing to utilize Fisher for more than a brief cameo is a wasted opportunity that proves one of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’s biggest mistakes.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Wastes Isla Fisher Completely
The Adaptation Failed To Utilize The Comedy Star In Her Supporting Role
Bridget’s comment to her children when they ask why she never talks to Rebecca is a poor excuse considering how much fun a friendship between Bridget and her frazzled neighbor might have been. Fisher’s role in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy under-utilizes her talents and ends up almost feeling worse than cutting the character of Rebecca entirely. If the character were absent, viewers wouldn’t know what they were missing but, with Rebecca appearing briefly, it is clear there is a stronger version of the movie that offers her a bigger role.
Casting an actor as famous as Fisher in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy implies that Rebecca and Bridget might have originally bonded over motherhood in an earlier story draft.
Although her adorable children appear throughout the movie and her son plays a major role in the ending, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’s age gap romance and choppy pacing mean big chunks of the sequel ignore the тιтle character’s family life. A subplot about Rebecca and Bridget bonding over motherhood could have solved this, and casting an actor as famous as Fisher in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy implies that this might have been the plan at some point in production.
