Remakes and reboots and sequels are an epidemic in Hollywood, which seems to be losing creative steam by the minute. With that in mind, it’s easy to look at something like “Bridget Jones’s Baby,” the third installment in a franchise that’s been wrapped for 12 years, and roll your eyes, sure it’ll be a mess. Luckily, that’s kind of Bridget’s (Renee Zellweger) thing, and the messiness of “Bridget Jones’s Baby” feels warm and comforting, like a blanket you forgot was in the back of the closet.
What happens?
Bridget Jones is 43. Her old love Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) is married. Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) died in a plane crash, and his death “seems to have hit the Eastern European modeling community particularly hard.” Bridget is a successful, if scattered, TV producer, and she seems resigned to making the most of eternal singleness. But then she has sex with a stranger, American billionaire Jack (Patrick Dempsey), and her recently separated ex within a week of each other and finds out she’s pregnant. Who’s the dad? And a separate question: Who does Bridget actually want to be with?
What’s good?
All the stars are charming with well-honed comedic timing. Zellweger and Firth slip into their old roles effortlessly, but even Dempsey pulls laughs out of his over-the-top, control-freak character. The real gem, as always, is Emma Thompson, who also co-wrote the script. As Bridget’s gynecologist, she turns every line, even the word “Pringle,” into a masterpiece of comedy. We should get three more movies about her adventures as a doctor.
There’s also something strangely fitting about seeing Bridget and Mark in their 40s, where their trademark quirks and anxieties feel more at home. When Bridget’s co-worker tries to call her a MILF, she protests, “I’m not even a mum. I’m a spinster. I’m a SPILF.” Seeing her struggle with societal expectations as a 43-year-old makes more sense and is more gratifying than it was in her 30s because there’s always been something old-fashioned about Bridget.
What’s bad?
All my issues with Bridget Jones are problems that should have been caught in the first or second round. The fact that weight jokes still get made even when she’s pregnant seems cruel. Her inconsistency at work is unrealistically laughed off. The awkward scenarios she manages to get herself into feel completely contrived at every turn. But none of this is unexpected.
Final verdict
Uneven at times, “Bridget Jones’s Baby” will please fans and gives the old girl a warm wrap-up.
3 stars (out of four)
@lchval | laurenchval@redeyechicago.com
