Last November, a statue of Bridget Jones was unveiled in London. I don’t know if I’d go that far to honor British novelist Helen Fielding’s rom-com creation, but I am a devoted fan of three of the four Bridget movies starring the fabulous Renée Zellweger.
If there were an Oscar for Best Creation of a Character Over Time, I’d want it to go to Zellweger. Over the course of the series, she has soulfully shepherded Bridget from youth to middle age, more than justifying the poignant, plainspoken declaration of love she receives from Mark Darcy (Colin Firth): “I like you very much. Just as you are.”
The first in the film’s series, “Bridget Jones’s Diary” (2001), is undoubtedly the funniest. In this naughty take on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” the 32-year-old Bridge (as her friends call her) bemoans her single status, beginning a diary and a program of self-improvement after appalling co-workers with her drunken caterwauling at a Christmas party.
Bridget is always blundering, but her romance with Mark (a frosty but sexy attorney) is nearly as dreamy as the courtship of Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Instead of Mr. Darcy’s stately profession of affection (“You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you”), though, Mark, responding to Bridget’s comment that nice men don’t kiss like he does, says, “Oh, yes they fucking do.”
In the subsequent films—the amusing but inane “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason” (2004) and the more restrained “Bridget Jones’s Baby” (2016)—the hapless heroine and her Darcy break up and get back together, then finally have a baby and get married in the latter story (after overcoming the obstacle known as Patrick Dempsey).
Fast forward to “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” (2025), however, and we find Bridget—gasp!—permanently separated (by death) from Mark. Killing off Mark Darcy on a humanitarian mission seems like sacrilege (akin to Austen having her Mr. Darcy run over by a barouche on his way to rescuing Lydia Bennet’s reputation). But the filmmakers had to give Mark the boot because Fielding wrote it that way in her 2013 novel.
Against all odds, this dreadful-sounding idea gives Bridget and the movie itself room to grow, rather than recycling the same old enjoyable patterns of screw-ups and sex. Now, Bridget is free to be older and wiser, but just as funny and endearing as ever.
“Mad About the Boy” begins with Bridge haphazardly preparing to go to a party four years after Mark’s death. Being Bridget, she has scant food in the fridge and has to rely on Mabel (Mila Jankovic), the youngest of the two Darcy kids, to zip her dress (oh, and she accidentally lights her children’s dinner on fire).
While Bridget is still the same chaotic character she’s always been, the film’s screenwriters (Fielding, Dan Mazer, and Abi Morgan) dropped the cringey storyline about her counting calories that was so prominent in the first two films. A grieving widow and a mother, Bridget has other things to occupy her (she’s also lost her congenial father, played by Jim Broadbent, who was always her closest ally).
As Bridget finally arrives at the party, she imagines Mark is there with her at the door. In reality, she has to go inside alone…and face a long table, around which are seated the same smug married couples who ribbed her so mercilessly about being single in the first movie.
It’s a somber scenario, made brighter the next day when Bridget, wearing her penguin pajamas, gets up and decides to begin life afresh. Unlike in the first film, however, she doesn’t lip sync the wailing “All By Myself,” but bounces around the house to David Bowie’s “Modern Love.” The scene is pure joy, especially when Billy (Casper Knopf), her son, trampolines on the bed with her.
That moment serves as confirmation that Bridget has become that kind of mother—the one who tries to do the right thing, but also wants to show her kids a good time. In the parlance of Fielding, she may still frequently fuck up, but she’s definitely no fuckwit.
Bridget’s maturity is also reflected at her television job (no fire poles this time) and her occasional schooling of Billy’s uptight teacher, Mr. Walliker (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Plus, she’s become friends with her acerbic ob-gyn (Emma Thompson), who dishes out much better advice than her original goofy crew (Sally Phillips, James Callis, and Shirley Henderson, who are still on hand for support and laughs).
That said, Bridget has hardly become as stuffy as Mark once seemed to be. She still scurries about with her impossibly upright signature walk and exhibits irrepressible spirit and enthusiasm—especially when it comes to a romance with the much younger Roxster (Leo Woodall), who, Bridget realizes, is closer to Billy’s age than her own.
As Bridget reconciles with the loss of the old and embraces the possibility of the new, the film culminates with a New Year’s Eve soirée—a fitting full-circle since Bridget and Mark met at her mother’s annual New Year’s Day buffet. In a sly contrast with the original movie, there’s no turkey curry in sight, although Billy is wearing his dad’s old reindeer jumper.
Another difference between the gatherings is the beaming Bridget herself, who is no longer awkwardly milling about, unfortunately upholstered in her mother’s fussy clothes. She’s surrounded by friends and family of all ages—including Billy’s classmates and Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), who’s as sleazy as ever but has managed to drum up a redeeming quality or two.
That scene, which poetically lingers over glowing holiday lights and a laughing, dancing crowd, reminds you how much we have grown with Bridget as she has grown. By now, she’s more than a fictional character—she’s a friendly, comforting face woven into the tapestry of moviegoers’ lives, despite a few bumbles along the way (let’s not get into her accidental drug trafficking in “The Edge of Reason”).
Even beyond that, though, Bridget’s navigation of grief—which the fourth film neither glosses over nor over-sentimentalizes—is ultimately inspiring. Yes, “Mad About the Boy” is a rom-com, so Bridget has found love again. But even better, she’s embracing her new life…just as it is.
