Tag: Michael morris

directed by Michael Morris

Oh Bridget… I can’t even name the number of times you cheered me up after another failed relation. Whenever I had a broken heart, she was there with me to sing “All by Myself”, drunk, in a cute pyjamas. I simply adore this woman, although the third film was already slightly disappointing to me – you absolutely cannot compare it to the first two. That is why I had quite mixed feelings about the 4th part. On the one hand, I was excited because Bridget is back, on the other… what could go wrong…? Well, the first thing that hits us like a metal chair (SPOILER COMING) is that her one and only love, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), has died, so Bridget (Renée Zellweger) is now a widow with two children, Billy and Mabel (Casper Knopf & Mila Jankovic). Before you get frustrated, let me just add that it’s exactly what happens in the book as well, so it wasn’t the filmmaker’s choice. To all Darcy’s fans – I feel you… Anyway, Bridget is a happy mother of two adorable kiddos, but she’s single again, so her friend comes up with an idea to create Bridget’s profile of Tinder. She’s a bit unsure about it at first, but that leads to dating Roxster (Leo Woodall), a much, much younger man. In the meantime, we also get to know Scott Walliker (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Bridget’s children’s teacher, who is just there somewhere in the background, but as you might be guessing he may become quite significant at some point. First things first – I’m not disappointed about this part. In fact, I feel like this one is better than the third one and we get to experience the good old Bridget Jones. As much as I am sad about the death of Mark, there are two good sides of that. One – Bridget gets to date a much younger man, which is still some kind of a taboo topic. The other way round? No problemo. But when the woman is the older one in the couple, then it seems unusual. So I’m glad that we’re fighting with the age stereotype and show that love may be found literally in any combination. And two – I’m glad for the character of Scott, the teacher. He’s a middle-aged man who has always wanted to find true love and start a family, but it’s just never happened. And that’s something we often see being pictured about women – that they “failed” to find that special someone and have children. But it works both ways – there are such men as well. And it’s not about failing, but about something I personally call “fate”. We may be disappointed that life hasn’t worked out the way we wanted, but there’s something else coming. Something different, maybe better, but surely something specifically for us. This film also covers the topic of men’s loneliness, which is an important thing to talk about. And Bridget? She’ll manage anytime, anywhere. Just like all of you reading it. Thank you Jones for being just the way you are; in your silly little boots, silly little dress and absolutely enormous pants.

My rating: 7/10
S.