Have you met Miss Jones? (Bridget Jones's Diary (DVD))

Member Name: andrewl

Product:	Bridget Jones's Diary (DVD)
Date:	05/08/09 (59 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amusing, with a great cast

Disadvantages: Flawed script, a few jokes fall flat

In this film adaptation of the book of the newspaper column, Renee Zellweger stars as Bridget Jones, a thirty something, chain-smoking single woman who works in publishing and borders on alcoholism. Contrary to many fears over here as the film's release approached in 2001, her British accent is almost perfect, although it doesn't vary too much and occasionally sounds a little forced. I felt it was restricting her emotional range a bit. But not too much. It certainly bears comparison with that other American we get to flog our films to insular Yanks, ie, Miss Paltrow.

The film apparently ditches a fair bit of the book's incidents to concentrate on Bridget's love life, or lack thereof. This comes down to a choice between posh bounder Hugh Grant, who's sashaying through the horizontal samba with various other publishing types - and stiff upper-lipped Colin Firth as top attorney Mark Darcy (ahahah, little in-joke for those who've read the book, where Bridget fantasises about the bloke who played Mr Darcy in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, ie, Colin Firth).

In fact, the basic story parallels that of Pride and Prejudice, as the flash passionate type reveals himself to be a complete cad, and the cold and proud Darcy shows that he's quite a dude, actually.

Unfortunately, however, the script isn't by Jane Austen - although one of the co-writers did the adaptation honours for that BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. I'm always wary of things written by committee, and in some respects this script does fall down. Richard Curtis is an excellent comedy writer, and his work on Blackadder has assured his place in legend. However, he just can't hack the big screen. Bridget Jones's Diary has the exact same problem as Four Weddings And A Funeral did when Hugh Grant first came to our attention. The script is nothing more nor less than a series of episodic sketches. Often hysterically funny sketches, it must be said, but the fact remains. Obviously, the diary format which is loosely referred to throughout helps excuse this problem, and there's clearly been a lot of hacking out scenes (including at least one that was in the trailer), but this is a very disjointed narrative.

Curtis also seems to have a penchant for writing characters incapable of stringing together a coherent and articulate sentence. Hugh Grant doesn't stammer too much for once, as he's the confident chap, but both Zellweger and Firth seem to like close-ups so much that they're never in a hurry to get to the end of a phrase. Spit it out, children! Stuttering like an electrocuted monkey isn't big, isn't clever and certainly isn't naturalistic, which is probably the excuse they give for it.

It looks like I'm a bit down on the script as a whole. Well, I am from a structural point of view, but so much of the dialogue is terribly witty. Unfortunately, I don't want to quote it, because what's the point of ruining the best jokes before you see the film? There are some moments of pure genius - watch out for these in particular.

1) The opening scene, with all the comments on people's clothes.
2) The '80s pop icon best friend of Bridget. Limited screen time, but worth every second.
3) The fight scene.
4) Jim Broadbent, who plays Bridget's father, is one of the greatest, and the most underrated, comedy actors in the history of deadpan delivery.
5) The closing credits, where Hugh Grant's slimy cad gets his just desserts.

In many ways, I wanted to hate this film. All the talk of 'Bridget Jones Moments' and what a totally believable character she is really got my cynical hackles up. And now I'm even more annoyed, because it's actually true. What annoys me now is the way the character has been appropriated by pseudo-feminists, as though being single and socially inept is a strictly female domain. To be honest, the whole 'sisters doing it for themselves' image is likely to put a lot of blokes off a film which they'd quite enjoy otherwise.

And what a film it is. There's sly digs at Titanic, and a whole galaxy of great British stars shining brightly. Some of them are so good that they make Bridget Jones herself seem positively unengaging. Neil Pearson, from cult comedy Drop The Dead Donkey, references his typecasting as a sexaholic. Jim Broadbent is sardonic but moving as Bridget's father. Hugh Grant is a parody of his normal sweet guy screen persona. Colin Firth finally repeated his Mr Darcy routine after years of trying to escape from its shadow. Even Salman Rushdie popped out of hiding to fit in a quick cameo.

From a cinematic point of view, the film is definitely in the unambitious romcom camp, with a soundtrack full of desperately uninteresting songs which were released as singles over a few months. It's Raining Men' is a particularly strange choice for a film about a girl who can't get a boyfriend.

Still, Bridget's voiceovers do add a little interest, as do her occasional speculative moments, such as when she presents the audience with her ideal way of introducing Darcy to one of her colleagues. The direction is unashamedly sentimental, with two English white Christmases IN A ROW! (I've had one in my entire life, and I think London's only had one since some time in the 1930s) and a remarkably jolly London. It never rains in the summer. Everyone is very rich, but that's nothing to be ashamed of as no one is very poor - at least, no one worth speaking of. It's all very bourgeois and cosy. But publishing's like that, and Bridget Jones's world is like that. This bourgeois, cosy, snowy little world where you can walk into a job in television represents her point of view, and her inability to grasp any important issues is part and parcel of her character.

As for Renee Zellweger's bum, at the time of the film's release everyone was going on about how much weight she put on, and how dedicated she must have been. Frankly, anyone who thinks that eating a lot of cream buns, drinking Chardonnay and taking up smoking constitutes some sort of sacrifice needs some sort of therapy. Suffice it to say that Bridget is not 'fat' in this film, and there's a lot more interesting stuff to talk about. Although the weight fixation that the press have is, to coin a phrase, very Bridgetesque.

Summary: An amusing adaptation overshadowed on its release by Zellweger's weight gain.