Honestly, I tried my hardest to accept the first Bridget Jones movie: Bridget Jones's Diary and even though the movie has its charm and an attractive cast, I could not pinpoint as to why people enjoy the movie. You can put this story at any location and twist it with some good storytelling and it would have been a better movie. But, then I realized after watching the disastrous second movie, she is an interesting woman. But, to add to that, she is accident-prone and when the franchise relies on her being so accident-prone and doing the wrong things, it feels like watching a tired cartoon. And, this latest film is a tired cartoon about a single woman having flaws with an interesting situation but is dragged down to cliched scenes and comedy.
In a hilarious opening, Bridget (Renee Zellweger) is waking up on her 43rd birthday and her mother reminds her that her time to have children is running out. Bridget now works as a television producer and is close friends with the anchor of the show she runs, Miranda (Sarah Solemani). They go out for their birthday after Bridget's friends decline her request because of their children. They go out to an Ed Sheeran concert and when she gets drunk, Bridget goes to a yurt in which belongs to a handsome stranger she met earlier at a music festival. He and Bridget have sex and in the morning, Bridget tries to not be disappointed when she wakes up alone.
Later, Bridget finds that she is gaining weight. Sharon (Sally Phillips) suggests that Bridget is pregnant. Bridget realizes this when she realizes that she used expired condoms during sex. When takes a pregnancy test at work, Bridget confirms that she is pregnant and decides to have the child because it is her last chance. After to a visit to her gynecologist, Dr. Rawlings (Emma Thompson), Bridget has no way to contact the handsome stranger until she discovers that the stranger is Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey) who is a billionaire and the inventor of a dating site.
She tells Jack that she is pregnant without mentioning her ex, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Bridget thinks that things are going too fast with her boyfriend so she decides to tell Mark that she is pregnant. Mark is ecstatic at the news that he is about to be a father and Bridget does not talk about Jack. Uh oh!
I was delighted in one portion of the movie as I was thinking that it may have been the movie that finally shows me that it was good but the filmmakers and screenwriters drop the ball as they retreat back into the single life as a woman being accident-prone with mixing up her guest with her chauffeur. I was rolling my eyes with that scene. The bottom line is that the first half bored me to death with her still suffering with being single and old and she has sex a man. And, the problem again is that Bridget goes on automatic-pilot when things do not go her way and she becomes uninteresting. The story regarding two guys having potential interest of being Bridget's father is interesting but that story relies on comic situations as to Bridget hiding the truth with the gynecology appointments and the classes.
Renee Zellweger, again, is charismatic and is great to see her again after a hiatus and persuades you to get into the story and into her character's situation and at times, I felt bad for her. Colin Firth still has nice chemistry with Zellweger but it seems at times that he does not want to be part of the project. Patrick Dempsey was not bad as the billionaire as he is more helpful than villainous and the movie upgraded as both male characters are serious but considerate characters. Emma Thompson has a few laughs as the gynecologist.
Director Sharon Maguire was attempting at something unique at relevant to middle-aged people having the situation of being single and also having a baby at the age. The script by Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson needed another draft to go into a more realistic approach of having the baby with two potential fathers but relies heavily on accidents, lies and fighting and retreated me back into formulaic comedy even though a little bit of the comedy is funny. The revelation as to who is the father is not surprising but I'm glad that the journey to that revelation is not as predictable. For me, the drama and comedy is uneven for me to recommend but at times, it was close to being a good movie but there are certain scenes retraced back to old formula.
**
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