First Take: Bridget Jones’s Baby- pens at the ready, it’s diary time

Spoiler free as usual. Because this really isn’t worth spoiling.

SYPNOSIS:

Bridget’s focus on single life and her career is interrupted when she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch… she can only be fifty percent sure of the identity of her baby’s father.

It’s been well over a decade since everyone’s favourite
diary writer was last seen on the big screen, and after years of development,
we finally have a new Bridget Jones film- and I’m glad to report that it’s just
as good as the first two entries to the franchise.

Sharon Maguire (director of the first film) returns to
direct the latest installment in Bridget’s never-ending tale of love, and this
is a great move as she just nails the balance between comedy and emotion
throughout this 2 hour piece of British cinematic excellence. The script from
Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson just adds to that, with the
obligatory 6 laugh test being passed relatively quickly. Performance wise, the
returning cast just do what they do best, with Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth
putting in some outstanding work as ever, alongside new talents like Patrick
Dempsey adding some new flair to a tried and tested formula. The soundtrack is
also exactly as you’d expect (mostly modern pop alongside some brilliant classics), making this a brilliant girl’s night out film,
and of course, the big question is ‘who is the father of Bridget’s baby?’- I
won’t be spoiling that here, but the way it is revealed is very subtle and also
very emotionally charged.

THE VERDICT

It’s been a long wait for fans of the series, but Bridget
Jones’s Baby delivers exactly what you’d expect- lots of great British wit and
humour alongside a plot that really has you on the edge of the seat until the
very end. This might be as big as both the original and Edge of Reason- but I
reckon it will be even bigger.

RATING: 5/5