Big Picture Big Sound

Bridget Jones's Baby Review

By Matthew Passantino

Who's Your Daddy?

Oscar winner Renée Zellweger returns to the big screen for the first time since 2010 with "Bridget Jones's Baby," an expectedly easy to digest but wholly unnecessary sequel. It's been 12 years since we last saw Bridget and not much has changed. Same goes for the movie.

The film opens with Bridget sitting alone on her couch on her birthday, staring at a single cupcake with a single candle in it. She laments how she got here but is quickly distracted by some music and a bottle of white wine.

Instead of worrying about the state of her life, Bridget is convinced to go on a girls weekend with a friend from work. They go to an all weekend music festival, where Bridget meets and sleeps with Jack (Patrick Dempsey). He likes her, but Bridget is trying to be more spontaneous and doesn't want to get involved.

jones_body.jpg

By the power of movie magic, Bridget also runs into her old flame, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), where they also spend a night together. The overlapping series of events results in a pregnancy that Bridget is excited for but totally unprepared. Step one: figure out who the father is.

What results is a two hour - two hours!! - back-and-forth between Jack and Mark, who are competing in the Daddy Olympics and both are going for gold. Bridget keeps them both close throughout the pregnancy, despite knowing one will eventually have to be cut loose.

It's certainly nice to see Zellweger back in the role that landed her the first of three Oscar nominations, and she is as charming as she ever. The movie itself is problematic because it's guilty of one of my biggest movie pet peeves. It's a 120-minute film, which could be boiled down to 80. It grows a bit repetitive as the film progresses and you'll be hoping for it to end before you even figure out who the father is.

The rest of the supporting cast gets individual moments to shine but nothing really has a lasting effect. Emma Thompson - who is one of three credits on the screenplay - brings her fiesty, sarcastic energy to her scenes as Bridget's doctor. It's nice to see Thompson have a little more work to do after nothing roles in her last couple of films.

How much you like "Bridget Jones's Diary" will rest heavily on your desire to check back in with this character. As a fan of the first film (I did not like the second one at all), I had reservations about this unlikely trilogy. The first movie would have made a charming standalone film but here we are. My only hope is there aren't any more and Zellweger is given more opportunities than this one character.

What did you think?

Movie title Bridget Jones's Baby
Release year 2016
MPAA Rating R
Our rating
Summary "Bridget Jones's Baby" is an expectedly easy film to digest but it's wildly unnecessary.
View all articles by Matthew Passantino
More in Movies
Big News
Newsletter Sign-up
 
Connect with Us