MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

asc85 ...and also one of the rare cases where the movie is better than the book that it's based on, and I think the book is very good. Helen Fielding wrote both, and her screenplay is very funny, and very clever. Zellweger is of course fantastic as Bridget Jones. There are so many great scenes, but my favorite one is probably the dinner party sequence where she's the only single person, and the overly enthusiastic pregnant couple makes her feel really bad about being single. But then Mark Darcy comforts her, and tells her that he likes her "just as you are."

popcorninhell The movie based on the novel by Helen Fielding is a bit of a misnomer. Despite, a few moments of observations told with the delicate staccatos of Renee Zellweger's inner monologue, the diary doesn't really fit into the story all that much. What the film should have been called is Pride and Prejudice 2000. Not to say that a loose adaptation of a classic is a bad idea it's just you don't have to be so obvious about it.Our charming protagonist Bridget (Zellweger) is a bit of a hot mess. In the words of potential love interest Mark Darcy (Firth), "she smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish and dresses like her mother." Bridget decides to mend her ways in an effort to find "true love." This promptly gets the attention of her boss Daniel (Grant), a notorious flirt and head of the publishing company she works for. Bridget comes to believe Mark and Daniel are acquainted and not on good terms. So naturally her budding relationship with Daniel causes a further rift while the accident prone Bridget juggles her work, her love life and her family. As you can imagine not everything goes according to plan.All of he film's charm lies squarely on the shoulders of Renee Zellweger. The film goes through the motions as if it were in a trance yet she somehow makes everything bearable and even enjoyable. Much ado was made when she, an American was cast in lieu of a British actress. Rest assured her effervescence, her wit and her accent all make it through the picture unscathed. Truth be told finding a comedic character of this depth and verisimilitude is near impossible these days and for a female character to be this utter likable is a testament to Mz. Zellweger's abilities.If only the supporting characters and competing love interests were as fully developed. Both Firth and Grant do their best yet neither fully succeeds in winning me over. Firth's rendition of Darcy acts like he's come in from an entirely different movie and only adds to the plot when a certain bit of information needs to be conveniently pushed to the side to become a dramatic macguffin later. Grant on the other hand can play many roles including a romantic lead but being a deceitful wastrel who "wants to make a change;" oh brother. The less I say about the completely wasted talents of Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones the better.As I've said before the magic behind the source material i.e. "Pride and Prejudice" is it's universality. Despite two centuries of wide circulation, the Jane Austen novel works because it ultimately is about finding yourself within the context of a stifling social structure. To that end Bridget Jones's Diary succeeds until the very last act. Instead of a shrewd Elizabeth Bennet meeting the stoic Darcy on equal footing sans pride or prejudice, we get Bridget coveting a man she knows she loves yet hardly knows and is willing to brave the cold in her underwear to prove it. Bridget Jones is not a subversion of rom- com clichés (or the lives of landed gentry for that matter), it's a submission to the idle, unworkable fantasies of romantic love that to be quite frank has warn out it's welcome in the 90's.Lacking the sharpness of the original source material and willing to submit itself and its audience to sentimentalism, the film is nothing more than your average run-of-the-mill romantic comedy made pleasant by Renee Zellweger. Bridget Jones's Diary should be viewed only to watch Zellweger find her muse in the rich inner-life of a single woman in her 30's fearing the looming threat of spinsterhood. Single people be warned, this movie is liable to push you into bad decisions; don't fall for the hype.

Robert J. Maxwell It's an amusing romantic comedy with Renée Zellweger is a plumpish woman on and after her thirty-second birthday. She's single and nothing much is going on. She seems cheerful enough about it all but she decides to begin life anew, starting a diary and making resolutions such as losing fourteen pounds and cutting down on the drinking and smoking.Zellweger works in a London publishing house and begins to wear short skirts and rather vulgar see-through blouses to the office. Soon enough she's flirting with her boss, the ever sly Hugh Jackman, and soon after than they're in the sack together. She begins to get a bit mushy and asks him if he loves her. For that, he buggers her for the second time.Well -- does he love her? Is he willing to "commit"? (That's code for "willing to get married.") Evidently not, because she pays him an unexpected visit one day and finds a luscious babe naked in his bath room. The babe eyes Zellweger with a smirk and remarks, "I thought you said she was THIN." Ouch.Meanwhile, always hovering around the background, is the successful but stuffy and decidedly unchic Colin Firth. Zellweger has loathed him at first sight. He never smiles or flirt or jokes around like the roguish Jackman. Not much fun, you know. But one day he takes her aside and tells her grimly that he "likes her" just the way she is. Coming from him, that's a Niagara Falls of a confession. In the meantime, though, Jackman has abandoned all his girl friends and tells Zellweger she can give him rebirth. That is, he's now willing to get married and so, it develops, is Firth.At a dinner one night at Zellweger's flat, Jackman and Firth run into one another and have a fist fight over her. Now this has got to be female fantasy Number One -- two men fighting over you, a plain girl with not much going for her but brains and zest. And they're both successful and have other women salivating over them. Wow. I won't claim it began with Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" because I'm sure the theme goes back in history through the Greek masques, and is lost finally in the mists of antiquity. (For men's fantasy Number One, viz., The Conquering Hero. Start with "Rocky." Go back to "The Iliad.") Much of the wit lies in the writing itself, full of irony and vulgarity. There are a few slapstick scenes -- Bridget trying to cook -- that hark back to "I Love Lucy" and Laurel and Hardy. They're still funny and the absurd characters are well defined.Zellweger is a decent actress and though hefty she has an engaging blue eyes and a smile that could brighten a room. Jackman is his usual on-screen self, stuttering slightly, a little embarrassed at times. Firth is unpleasant and stiff but Zellweger has juice enough for both of them and she'll turn him into a paragon of élan before you know it.

g-bodyl It must be some kind of unwritten rule that men are supposed to despise chick flicks. I myself despise the bad ones, but I can enjoy the good ones. Surprisingly enough, Bridget Jones's Diary can fit into that latter category. The rom-com looked so clichéd and dull based off the trailers, but instead it's a warm, charming, and funny film. It's not the greatest and not entirely original, but it's still a charming British rom com.Sharon Maguire's film is about a woman in her 30's named Bridget Jones who is struggling to find love and is a little plump, and have smoking and drinking problems. Her life becomes even more confusing when these two men fall for her in different ways: her boss who has got everything a woman would want and a lawyer who is socially awkward.This film is well-acted. Renee Zellweger's role is actually quite daring and she is perfect for this role. She plays it with her best and I'm not sure if anyone else would be right for this role. Both Hugh Grant and Colin Firth were excellent and quite charming as two men with opposite personalities fighting for the same woman(in one great scene, there was a legit fight.) Gemma Jones was excellent as Bridget's crazy mother.Overall, Bridget Jones's Diary is a rather solid chick flick. It seems a little overdrawn and it is not totally original, but one cannot deny the charm the film oozes out. It's a warm film and it has simple messages of love. I am not sure if the film was in need of a sequel as the ending was so perfect, but I know I'll check it out at some point. A very charming romantic comedy and I am pleasantly surprised. I rate this film 8/10.