Bridget Jones (film series)

Bridget Jones is a British-American romantic comedy film series based on Helen Fielding novels of the same name. The series consists of Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and the third film Bridget Jones's Baby (2016). The series has grossed over $751 million worldwide against a combined budget of $100 million.

Films

Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

Bridget Jones is alcoholic binger, smoker, overweight thirty-something British woman who tries to keep things in order and while also dealing with her job as a publisher. When she attends a Christmas party with her parents, they try to set her up with their neighbours son, Mark. After being Snubbed by Mark, she starts to fall for her boss Daniel, a handsome man who begins to send her suggestive e-mails that leads to a dinner date. Daniel reveals that he and Mark attended college together, in that time Mark had an affair with his fiancée. Bridget decides to get a new job as a TV presenter after finding Daniel being frisky with a colleague. At a dinner party, she runs into Mark who expresses his affection for her, Daniel claims he wants Bridget back, the two fight over her and Bridget must make a decision who she wants to be with.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

Bridget is currently living a happy life with her lawyer boyfriend Mark Darcy, however not only does she starts to become threatened and jealous of Mark's new young intern, she is angered by the fact Mark is a conservative voter. With so many issues already at hand, things get worse for Bridget as her ex-lover, Daniel Cleaver, re-enters into her life, and the only help she has is her friends and her reliable diary.

Bridget Jones's Baby (2016)

Bridget Jones is struggling with her current state of life, including her break up with her love Mark Darcy. As she pushes forward and works hard to find fulfillment in her life seems to do wonders until she meets a dashing and handsome American named Jack Qwant. Things from then on go great, until she discovers that she is pregnant, but the biggest twist of all, she does not know if Mark or Jack is the father of her child.

Principal cast

Crew

Reception

Box office performance

Critical and public response

The first film received positive reviews and holds a 81% approval rating on aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 6.9/10, based on 154 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Though there was controversy over the choice of casting, Zellweger's Bridget Jones is a sympathetic, likable, funny character, giving this romantic comedy a lot of charm."^[9] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 66, based on 33 reviews, considered to be "generally favorable reviews".^[10] Critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4 possible stars.^[16]

Awards and nominations

Bridget Jones's Diary

Renée Zellweger was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, the Empire Award for Best Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (shared with Colin Firth), the Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, the Teen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry (shared with Hugh Grant), the Teen Choice Award for Choice Liplock (shared with Grant), and the Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress. Firth won the European Film Awards Audience Award for Best Actor and the European Film Award – Jameson People's Choice Award – Best Actor and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Grant won the Evening Standard British Film Awards' Peter Sellers Award for Comedy and was nominated for the Empire Award for Best British Actor, the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and the European Film Award – Jameson People's Choice Award – Best Actor. Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies, and Helen Fielding were nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film, the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and the Satellite Award for Best Film – Musical or Comedy.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

It was voted for the Evening Standard Readers' Film of 2004, was in the shortlist for the Orange Film of the Year award at 2005 BAFTAs and the second interpretation of Bridget gained Zellweger another Golden Globe nomination and the People's Choice Awards as Favorite Leading Lady of 2005.

Home media

The first film on VHS was released in 2001 containing over 35 minutes of bonus material which includes: Deleted Scenes, Exclusive Interviews, Bridget’s Guide to “Getting It Right”. There was also a VHS of "The Making of Bridget Jones". In 2001 the film was released on DVD containing brand new bonus material and in 2011 a Blu-ray version of the film was released. A Collective Edition of the film was released in 2004 with new bonus material including; The Bridget Phenomenon, The Young And The Mateless, Portrait Of The Makeup Artist, Domestic and International TV Spots, Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason Theatrical Trailer, Bridget Jones's Diary Reviews and A Guide to Bridget Britishism.

The second film was released on DVD in 2004 with a variety of bonus features.

References

Notes