Bridget Jones's Baby

This review may contain spoilers!

The same entertaining humour and cast but with an almost embarrassing attempt to stay relevant to a new, younger audience. I would Bridget Jones's Baby a 6.5/10.

I really enjoy the awkward comedy that's at the heart of the Bridget Jones films and this one keeps up the tradition really well, there were many scenes where I found myself consistently laughing at the situations Bridget found herself in. The relationship between Bridget and Mark coming to a final, enjoyable and definitive conclusion is also one of the film's greatest triumphs. The soundtrack for Bridget Jones's Baby was brilliant, several throwbacks to songs from past films as well as funny use of music released more recently.

Renee Zellweger, who played Bridget, brings back her charming and relateable protagonist in full force; Zellweger has such mastery of this role and has complete ownership over Bridget beyond a doubt. Colin Firth, who played Mark, manages to bring out this rather socially awkward yet exceptionally likeable character back for a third time round; Firth and Zellweger have a lot of chemistry onscreen together which is a big part of why a third Bridget Jones film is so successful. Joanna Scanlan, who played Cathy the Makeup Lady, was a really fun minor role; I took a lot of delight in seeing how complicit she got in Bridget's antics. James Callis, who played Tom, is the only one of Bridget's friends group to have an exciting introduction; he has so much energy when he's onscreen and I thought he really made his mark. Patrick Dempsey, who played Jack, is instantly so charismatic when he appears in the film; I liked how over the top his role was particularly in terms of discussing what will help prepare for delivering the baby. Ed Sheeran, who played himself, was a genuinely great cameo; his scenes at the festival were comedic high points of the film.

However the best performance came from Sarah Solemani, who played Miranda. Solemani is very clearly putting everything she has into this film and having a hell of a time doing it. Miranda is a new character who I find immensely likeable and a lot of fun, she's certainly got a ton of screen presence. This was the funniest character of the film and her scenes were my favourite of the film.

There's a desperate struggle in this film to keep the tone of the old movies alive while attempting to be relevant to a new audience that is several years younger than those who watched the first films. Simply put this doesn't work, every time a joke about Gangnam style or modern technology is made it grates against the simple comedy and relationship between Bridget and Mark. It also struggled to be relevant as a sequel a lot of the time, there were slumps in the film where the plot had to work out what it was trying to achieve. The end of the film has a very genuine conclusion right up until the point that it tries to completely flaunt out a fourth film, by bringing Hugh Grant's character 'back from the dead' the film showed that it only cared about the money it was going to make instead of presenting a genuine story. The cinematography has a few unique and nice-looking films scattered throughout the film, unfortunately the film tends towards simplistic and easy shots that mean the visual style of the film is lacking. The editing follows the cinematography exactly, there are some great moments where the editing coincides with the comedy but otherwise the cuts are slow and have a negative impact upon the film's pacing.

Gemma Jones, who played Mum, is and always has been the weakest link of the Bridget Jones films; her over the top and honestly unbearable character is a waste of screen time. Jim Broadbent, who played Dad, barely puts any effort into his performance in this film; I don't know if Broadbent doesn't have a fun time making these films or if he just didn't have a great script but this was not a great performance. Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson and Jessica Hynes, who played Shazzer, Jude and Magda respectively, are all friends of Bridget's from past films who are just forgettable minor roles in this film; the gossipy dinner conversations that made these characters notable are sadly dead and gone. Neil Pearson, who played Richard Finch, sadly didn't have very much screen presence in this film; Pearson was never really given the opportunity to make his character shine comedically as he has in the past films. Kate O'Flynn, who played Alice, was just a strange antagonist in this film; O'Flynn plays a role that just did not feel like a real person and that made this character hard to watch. Enzo Cilenti, who played Gianni, was a bit of a goofy minor role that did not fit into this film well; the character of Gianni feels like a bit of a weak racial joke ultimately. Emma Thompson, who played Dr. Rawlings, is a role that has two very different sides; Thompson could've been an intensely serious role or a dry comedic one but as the film attempts to make her both the performance feels like two conflicting characters. Celia Imrie, who played Una, is a character who was a waste of time in the original films and is even worse in this one; frankly there was no call for Imrie to be in this particular film at all.