#REVIEW: “BRIDGET JONES’S BABY”

In one of those rare occasions, the Sequel outdoes even its predecessor in BRIDGET JONES’S BABY! And to think, some of us didn’t think a third Film was necessary! V. early into this third instalment, you’ll remember right away how much we’ve missed our favourite fumbling heroine, reprised with great tenacity by a long-absent Renée Zellweger.

Although we are led to believe after second instalment The Edge of Reason, that Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and Bridget Jones were to walk into the sunset in wedded bliss, this simply wasn’t the case.   Bridget, now in her 40s still is a singleton, immersing herself into her career in the background of a television show with that occasional flash of brilliance that keeps us guessing if she is a genius or whether it’s all just a fluke.

She meets the highly-alluring and eligible American Jack (Patrick Dempsey), but not long before a chance reunion with Mark Darcy at a christening. Completely unplanned, Bridget then learns that she is pregnant – which actually is not altogether unwelcome. The question however is, the paternity of Bridget‘s baby – yet another tricky twist in the soapy saga of our #1 wanton Sex Goddess.

Bridget Jones’s Baby is the follow-up to the Franchise’s first Film that we truly wanted. And in actuality it is the best instalment of the lot and this speaks volumes considering how revolutionary Bridget Jones’s Diary was. We go deeper inside Bridget‘s mind and her character is aged with dignity and believability, no longer just a weight and relationship-obsessed mess that we’ve come to love. The story has been freshened with the minutiae of today and we very much are living in Bridget‘s world when watching this Film, not just watching it unfold.

While the story centers around that archetypal Love Triangle between our three leads, original Bridget Jones Director Sharon Maguire returns and manages to keep us guessing to the finish the true captor of Bridget’s heart and she does it in a way that embraces the whimsicality of the original Film, balancing it with just the right amount of sentiment.

Firth possesses once again that conservative charm that made us fall in love with Mark Darcy in the first place. New addition Dempsey enters the picture with all the desirability that Hugh Grant‘s Daniel Cleaver had, without the womanizing sliminess, making it ever so tough for not only Bridget, but for us to choose! Emma Thompson also is delightful as Bridget‘s Dr. Rawlings, in a smart delivery that fully is aware of the story’s absuridities.

The London backdrop and catchy Music very much also are intergral characters here and we love how the story respectively is captured both visually and told sonically through the joys of soulful American and Brit-Pop.

The question here is not whether Bridget Jones’s Baby is worthy of a watch, but just how the Franchise was so resurrected so masterfully and unsuspectingly!  Fans of the Franchise will be rewarded with tears, joy and laughter.

Universal Pictures Canada release BRIDGET JONES’S BABY, now in theatres.