Bridget Jones’s Diary
In their ad campaign for Bridget Jones’s Diary, Miramax films insists on using a quote from a critic who insists men can learn something about women from watching this film. What lessons there are to learn from the film are unclear. What is clear is the star presence of Renee Zellweger, one of my favorite actresses who has held her own against big screen heavies like Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Jim Carrey and Morgan Freeman. Somebody in a position of power has finally decided to give this golden girl a film all her own and damned if she doesn’t pull it off brilliantly.
To be certain, despite the British accents, this ain’t Shakespeare. But it is the breezy tale of the life and loves of Bridget Jones as told by her diary. Since I haven’t read the best-selling novel by Helen Fielding on which the movie is based, I can only tell you from secondhand knowledge that certain liberties have been taken with Bridget’s travels from the page to the screen. Ms. Jones (Zellweger) is a member of that most dreaded of groups, the over thirty and single club. Nary a romantic prospect in sight and no advancement opportunities in her job, our heroine decides to change her life by keeping a diary. How this is supposed to change her life is beyond me (could that be the lesson men need to learn mentioned above?), but that’s not what’s really important here. What Bridget records is everything from what she weighs to how much she smokes and drinks to with whom she’s slept, including all those embarrassing things we all do in our lives like sliding down fire poles with our skirts pulled up or how bad a public speaker we are.
Despite her fears that she will wind up a spinster, dying and left to be eaten by wild dogs, Bridget has two romantic prospects: her sleazy boss Daniel Cheaver (Hugh Grant in a truly vile turn, bad hair and all) and the dashing barrister with whom her mother keeps trying to fix her up, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). It’s lust at first sight with Cheaver, and hate at first sight with Darcy. Can we see where this will end?
What the movie gives us is an endless comedic sequence that requires Jones to humiliate herself to the amusement of all around her. It’s to Zellweger’s credit that she’s able to pull off not only the physical comedy, but that she can also make us relate to it. Jones may look like a buffoon to all around her, but we root for her anyway, because we know what it’s like to be humiliated by people we can’t stand, sometimes on a continual basis. There’s a fine line between making a character ditzy and making her downright annoying, but Zellweger never alienates the audience. Even in the more serious and romantic moments in the film, she’s right on target, keeping the film on course and the audience on her side. There’s not a false note or gesture in the entire performance. And it’s a big credit to her that not only does she seem to do her British accent plausibly, but she seems downright comfortable in it, an amazing fact considering she’s from Texas.
The rest of the cast in uniformly good as well. Grant seems to get a kick out of playing the slimy type and it suits him well here. Firth, a more popular actor in Britain than in the States, isn’t given that much to do, but he somehow manages to register in the audience’s sympathies anyway. Jones’s parents, played by Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones, manage to be very funny and incredibly human despite a lack of screen time for their subplot. And kudos to director Sharon Maguire, who keeps things rolling along while trying to steer clear of cliches. While Jones’ parents are clearly strange, we don’t get the dysfunction we usually get in movies like this. And watch how Ms. Maguire tackles the fight sequence between Cheaver and Darcy over the beloved Ms. Jones. It’s funny without being drawn out and even though part of it happens in a restaurant, cake will not be thrown tonight.
So, while you may not learn anything of grave importance to you or your interpersonal relationships by watching the film version of the Diary of Ms. Jones, what you end up with is a sweet, funny riff on the nature of life and love, plus maybe a smile on your face as you leave the theatre to boot. And isn’t that what you go to the movies for anyway?