Movie Review: Bridget Jones Mad about the boy

Grab your girlfriends and your tissues for the 4^th instalment of Bridget Jones – Mad about the boy. Bridget messily came into our lives back in 2001 and has taken us all on a chaotic journey or love, heartbreak and becoming a mother. We now find her sadly single again with two kids in tow. She’s still messy, chaotic, lovable but also so relatable.

Bridget Jones started out as a column in the Independent in 1995 by British writer Helen Fielding. In 2001 Bridget hit our screens in “Bridget Jone’s Diary” with the creative help from the award winning and NZ born screen writer Richard Curtis (famous for Notting Hill, Love Actually, Four weddings and a funeral to name a few).  

Jump ahead 24 years and we find ourselves back in the rollercoaster of love with her once again torn between two love options: the devilishly handsome younger guy or the practical and possibly ever so boring science teacher at her son’s school.  

As expected, you’re taken on a hectic journey of mishaps where Bridget publicly humiliates herself whilst finding her way through the jungle of dating apps and love in your 50’s as a single mum. Through out the movie there are special appearances of her old pals that we’ve come to know and love from the previous 3 movies including her old love interest Daniel: Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson as her hilarious gynaecologist.

But it’s not just a journey of love but also grief, as Bridget mourns the loss of not only her husband but the children’s father, the stuffy but loveable Mr Darcy (Colin Firth). This is where you’ll need your tissues as they forge ahead with their lives without him whilst discovering ways to honour and remember him.

I’ll be honest, I did go in with quite low expectations; usually the 4^th movie in a series does tend to disappoint but this did not, it was delightful and heartwarming.  And so good to check back in with Bridget who has been through the same life journey and internal dialogue as us all with weight, love, looks, aging, wobbly bits, pregnancy, motherhood and death. A really good movie to go to with your gal pals.