# Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes
    RATING (0 TO ****):  **

In the romantic comedy BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY, Renée Zellweger looks absolutely awful as Bridget Jones. With a splotchy complexion, bulges everywhere and stringy hair, Bridget eats, drinks and smokes too much. She also dresses like a carpet. Badly miscast as the British heroine, Zellweger, in a monotonic performance, never gives us much reason to care.

Although Bridget has a serious and supposedly hopeless crush on her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), Richard Curtis and Andrew Davies's script has Bridget and Daniel quickly hopping into bed together. In the role of the man clearly designed to be the only man to deserve her, Colin Firth plays the dour lawyer Mark Darcy like a man with a constant case of intestinal problems. In a one-dimensional part, Embeth Davidtz plays Natasha, Mark's anal-retentive fellow lawyer and would-be fiancée.

Bridget, who writes in her diary in narration, is a 32 year old who worries about dying a spinster and being eaten alive by dogs. (No such luck.) Her television choices consist of things like the death scene from FATAL ATTRACTION followed by a nature program on humping lions. In case we forget how we're supposed to feel about Bridget's aspirations and emotions, the film's heavy musical accompaniment is also there to remind us.

"Stay calm -- can't get worse," Bridget admonishes herself when she is having yet another social disaster. I kept trying to remember that advice while waiting for the ending credits to arrive.

BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY runs a long 1:35. It is rated R for language and some strong sexuality and would be acceptable for most teenagers.

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