‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’ Review: Gimmicky Fanfiction For the Middle-Aged and the Middle Class

Looking at the evolution of Bridget Jones is like watching a suburb of a big city become gentrified or a very slow trainwreck happening before your eyes over a two-decade period. While every film follows the shenanigans and sexcapades of a middle to upper-class white woman in London, it does feel like the franchise becomes more excluding of certain viewers as it goes on. The original 2001 film, based on the novel by Helen Fielding, has become a legend in both the comedy and rom-com subgenres, a crowd=pleaser whether you watched it too young, later in life, or at the same age as the titular character. One of (if not the) best modern adaptations of classic literature, the original Bridget Jones’s Diary represents the best of studio British comedy. The sequel, naturally, fell behind but still thrived on the chemistry and humor of its three leads. A decade later, Bridget Jones’s Baby was the first death knell of this franchise, becoming a saccharine gimmick to get divorcées into cinemas.

If the last film was a death knell then Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is the lethal injection itself. It’s devoid of all the natural, irreverent humor of the early movies, focusing on being idyllic fanfiction for middle-aged women who dream in their London townhouses of having a fling with a toyboy. The final nail in the coffin is, and it pains me to say this, an oddly infantilizing performance from Renée Zellweger, who reduces Bridget to a caricature of an excited child who’s just been given a lobotomy. There’s no trace of the character we fell in love with two years ago, who makes jokes about Saddam Hussain’s arse, smokes excessively, and drinks too much, but can hold her own against those who deem her lesser. All this is to say that a once iconic character has become fodder for a very target audience to pass an evening at the cinema (or, if you’re in the U.S., at home with a Peacock subscription).

What Is 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' About?

Eight years after Bridget Jones confirmed that her baby belonged to Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and they got married, she is now a widow with an eight-year-old son, Billy, and a five-year-old daughter, Mabel. Four years previous, Mark was killed in an explosion while in Sudan for business (pretty heavy but alright), and the movie begins with Bridget being interrogated about her love and sex life at a dinner party. In typical Bridget fashion, she feels her life is an utter mess (despite having a huge home in one of London’s most sought-after areas, and doesn’t have to work, but I digress), and wants a fresh start in her life. She returns to work as a TV producer and begins a fling with the much younger, disconcertingly handsome Roxster (Leo Woodall). However, Bridget also strikes up a connection with the authoritative new science teacher, Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor), at her children’s school. Juggling kids, a new busy sex life, ensuring she and her kids are properly grieving the loss of Mark, and aiming to reclaim some of her own identity in life, Bridget embarks on a midlife rediscovery of herself.

It initially came as a surprise to see that the movie wasn’t getting a theatrical release in the U.S., but when you see the finished product, it becomes quite clear. Again, the original two movies transcended age and location to become top-tier comedies and romance stories, mainly due to the terrific performances of Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth. But with Firth’s character now dead, his loss is both felt by his family and the audience. It’s a welcome return for Hugh Grant as the sleazy but still charming (Grant’s whole shtick at the minute), and the change in his character from pursuing playboy to a genuine friend and ally to Bridget and her children is easily the best aspect of the new movie.

'Mad About the Boy' Targets an Older Audience

What draws Mad About the Back from its predecessors is that it is so clearly only aiming to please parents who will laugh along with the silly shenanigans of the children, the politics of the school mums, and getting back out there after years off the market. This isn’t to say that all stories with a focus on parenthood are like this — Sharon Horgan’s Motherland is one of British TV’s best comedies in recent years, and some of the major movie comedies focus on family and parenting — Mrs. Doubtfire, Look Who’s Talking, and even more children-friendly titles like Cheaper by the Dozen are much more enjoyable than what Mad About the Boy has to offer.

The script’s jokes and gags are sickeningly sanitized and gimmicky, although none are quite as commercially plastic as Ed Sheeran performing at Glastonbury. In short, the Bridget Jones cinematic universe has lost its edge — gone are the days of Hugh Grant gritting through a cigarette and exclaiming “Fuck, I love Keats,” instead making space for Bridget and her children to dance around in their pajamas and getting stuck in a tree.

The age gap romance between older women and outrageously hot younger men has become something of a staple in recent romantic cinema. When done right, it’s an empowering portrayal of a relationship defying societal expectations of women. Here, Bridget’s dalliance with Roxster feels plucked out of a fanfiction online novel written by a housewife while her husband is away on business (or fighting in Iraq). Their relationship is framed by how jealous and impressed those around Bridget are of her ability to bag such “an adonis” rather than a meaningful relationship that proves to Bridget that she’s not past her prime, as society tells women of a certain age.

Even though Woodall is one of the UK’s It boys of the moment, the movie has no interest in expanding his character beyond his physical attractiveness, resulting in barely any chemistry between him and Zellweger. Bridget’s relationship with Mr. Wallacker is much more rewarding, and it’s nice to see a script give ample time to a growing friendship turned romance. It’s also evidence that Chiwetel Ejiofor needs to star in more rom-coms.

As silly and overly whimsical as this movie is, it also tries to force overly sentimental moments and position itself as a heartfelt mediation on grief. Just like Bridget’s relationship with work and the new men in her life, there’s no room for nuance. This lack of nuance plays into every aspect of the script. The movie throws big emotional moments at us, hoping they’ll stick, but they come after a distinct lack of groundwork. Mad About the Boy either operates as an idyllic fanfiction comedy or a forced tear-jerker, not knowing how to operate in between.

Renée Zellweger's Performance Is Difficult to Buy Into

The most surprising drawback of Mad About the Boy is Zellweger’s bizarre performance. She earned an Oscar nomination for her role in the first movie (a rare feat for a major studio rom-com) and also demonstrated one of the best British accents done by an American actor. To play a clutz who can’t help but embarrass themselves is hard to pull off without appearing like you’re on a Nickelodeon show, but Zelwegger knew exactly how to make Bridget equal parts cringy, loveable, and inspiring.

In Mad About the Boy, she’s doing a two-hour impression of Poor Things’ Bella Baxter, walking like she just learned how to use her legs and maintaining a constant expression of dumbfounded giddiness. It’s genuinely like watching a child walk around in an adult’s body for the first time, and you’ll miss the days of her ass sliding down onto the camera or shitalking the Tory party to rich old men when all you get this time around is uncomfortable dance scenes and the lazy trope of messy hair to show how kooky she is. Still, she’s surrounded by a strong cast, with returning faces like Grant, Emma Thompson, Sally Phillips, and Sarah Solemani grounding Zelwegger’s schmaltzy performance.

Perhaps being Gen Z and first watching Bridget Jones's Diary when I was still in nappies, Mad About the Boy isn’t a movie made for me. Still, that alone is why it’s a stain on this franchise because the original movies were so expertly written and performed that they could be enjoyed by anybody. Mad About the Boy is the disappointing end to a franchise that should have never gone beyond its first sequel.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy premieres on Peacock in the U.S. on February 13.