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 Director
: Sharon Maguire
Starring
: Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Renee Zellweger, Jim Broadbent,
Gemma Jones.
Picture
: 2.35:1 anamorphic, DD 5.1, Single-Side Dual-Layer, Keep
Case
Running
Time : 98 mins
The
story:
It's Monday morning, Bridget has woken up with a headache,
a hangover and her boss.
A
romantic comedy that follows the life of 32 year old singleton,
Bridget Jones. When her Mum tries to pair her off with the
boring, irritating Marc Darcy (Colin Firth) she realises
her life needs a change of direction. With no boyfriend
or career prospects and a smoking and drink problem, Bridget
decides to take control of her life by keeping a diary.
After catching the eye of her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh
Grant) she embarks on a change of image and is soon happily
dating Daniel, who she thinks is the man of her dreams.
Things turn sour when Daniel turns out to be too good to
be true and she is caught torn between him and Marc Darcy
(Colin Firth), two men that are far from perfect but just
might be right for Bridget!
The summary:
Bridget Jones's Diary was born in 1995 from a column in
The Independent, a British newspaper. It soon attracted
a cult following and before long a best-selling book was
born, which in turn prompted this film release. Sticking
pretty faithfully to the original diary columns (which can
be found in the extras) Bridget Jones uses these same characters
and events (with some minor changes) adapted for the big
screen. The end results are a wonderfully warm romance /
comedy combining an excellent script with a magical cast.
No
good British film escapes Hugh Grant, although his role
in Bridget Jones is unusual in that he does much more than
play the sappy meek Englishman. Cast as the 'baddie', he
revels in the fist fights and swearing, but somehow still
maintains the typical Grant charm. Perhaps there's more
to him than we first thought! Renee Zellweger does a fantastic
job and even more so considering the Texan was a controversial
choice for the role of an English girl. From the accent
you would never know she wasn't English and Renee looks
great with the extra 20 pounds piled on for her role. The
on screen chemistry between Zellweger and Grant is brilliant
and their scenes contain many of the highlights of the film.
Firth plays his role with convincing awkwardness and the
mutual hatred between his character Marc Darcy and Daniel
Cleaver (Grant) cumulates in a comical fist-fight in the
latter part of the film.
Overall
I guess the story is a pretty average affair, but the endearing
quality of the films characters means will soon have you
submersed into the story. Bridget Jones has the warmth and
charm of previous British hits such as Notting Hill, but
has a lot more to offer in the way of wit and a much better
story. With a running time of little over an hour and a
half, Bridget Jones maintains a quick pace through and dull
moments are few and far between. I've seen the film three
times now and you'll be pleased to know it's just as enjoyable
after repeated viewing!
Disney
/ BV discs are well received for their picture and audio
quality and again they've delivered the goods with Bridget
Jones. The picture transfer is very good and although there's
little to really push the audio to the limits, it does a
competent job and is clear throughout. The supplemental
material could have been better though and it would come
as no surprise to us if a special edition was released in
the future. However what little is there is pretty good
quality, so don't let that put you off. An overall enjoyable
film and deserves a place in your collection.
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