Bridget Jones's Diary [VHS]

There are plenty of great reviews for this already, so I'll confine mine to a point some perhaps will think is minor.

This is one of my favourite movies, I've seen it countless times and used to own it back in Australia. I finally purchased a copy, this "collector's edition" which is really just a fancy cardboard cover over the regular disk as far as I'm concerned, and watched it last night.

I shouldn't have been surprised at the few edits I spotted, yet I was, and disappointed. The minor ones were that a few words had been changed, which seemed a bit patronising, "dumbed-down" even - the first reference to a gherkin (in her voice-over as she arrives at her parent's house) has been changed to "pickle", and later "eaten by Alsatians" has been changed to "eaten by dogs" (for anyone who doesn't know, "Alsatian" is the other name for a German Shepard - one name is considered politically incorrect, I forget which one). Considering all the other "Brittishisms" in the movie, I don't see the point of changing these two words.

That I could easily forgive, if it weren't for the change to the end credits. The orginal has some mini-interviews sprinkled throughout the credits that are absolutely hilarious, including one with Darcy's parents in which his dad says he likes a girl with a big bum that you can "rest your pint on" and "park your bike between" (ok, I get that that might offend some people, but I think what characters in, say, Hollywood action movies say is worse, and often more offensive), and another in which Daniel, in a bar, says how happy he is for Bridget and it's ok cause he's met someone too, though he can't get her name right and she is in fact a transvestite (it was his fear, as expressed earlier in the movie, that he end up lonely in a bar).

When I first saw this movie in the cinema, the audience could not stop laughing during the end credits, and it remained one of my favourite bits. In the North American version it's been replaced with a sappy "home movie" of Bridget and Darcy as kids at Darcy's birthday party and oh, look, they're holding hands, isn't that cute. Frankly, no, it's not, and it doesn't fit the rest of the movie, which isn't at all cute, it doesn't match at all. Hence the four stars, when really it deserves 5.

If you like your British humour straight up, and enjoyed the other politically incorrect comments sprinkled liberally throughout the movie, then try to get a hold of the original version. The differences are minor but it's worth it for the alternate end credits. While it is common practice for there to be "American" versions of classic British TV shows (Red Dwarf, Ab Fab, The Office), movies are usually safe from the editing room. I just hope nothing's been changed on the Blackadder DVD I just ordered...

Renee Zellweger is a delight in the title role of this frothy film. I was floored by her klutzy radiance. I had just seen a super slim Renee in "Chicago" and marvel at how youthful and appealing she is with a few extra pounds.

"Bridget Jones Diary" is a chick flick that transcends the genre. The plot has the barest nod to Ms. Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" though Elizabeth Bennett would be flabbergasted to find Bridget in her role. Colin Firth actually recreates Mr. Darcy (see his fine BBC performance of P&P) with his tongue firmly in cheek. Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) is Bridget's wicked temptation of a faithless lover. I must say if Hugh Grant is lovable as a dim wit comedian, he is devastating in a charming villain role.

Bridget is a not-quite-featherhead, obsessively concerned with her weight, sex life and self-perceived lack of charm, looks, and luck. In her early 30's, she worries about expiring in her lonely room and being eaten by dogs. She dislikes "smug marrieds," but is fearfully intimidated by them. Bridget makes sporadic attempts to take control of her life usually with disastrous results.

It took me this long to see the movie because I was lukewarm about the book. However, Ms. Zellweger brings Bridget to life in such a way that I was instantly won over by her ditzy charm. I fervently championed her every triumph and was saddened by her setbacks (usually brought on by herself). This is a feel-good film and definitely worth a 120 minute investment. Treat yourself to a guilt-free chocolate sundae after the movie. Enjoy!
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

I pushed the eject button on this DVD wondering "Why on earth would anyone, leave alone a stand-in for Mr. Darcy, want to be with Bridget?

Don't get me wrong, I understand the idea: the main character is lovable despite her flaws, and for once it isn't a Cinderella story about becoming beautiful (read: skinny) when you thought you weren't. She drinks, she smokes, she's kind of a bumbler socially, but she can still be happy, right? She can still find true love. That's a likable premise.

Except... um... why were we supposed to like this woman again?

Hugh Grant and Colin Firth are really fun in this movie. Grant seems to relish his role as the scoundrel, and man, the guy has wonderful comic timing. Colin Firth basically is meant to be Pride and Prejudice's Mr. Darcy -- the character's name is Mark Darcy, and Firth played Darcy in the BBC miniseries version of that book -- but instead of being proud or disdainful, it seems as if the direction might have been "do your best to bore the audience." He's a bland, bland guy, Mark Darcy. Firth works through that okay, he's a flawless actor and he can make his limp noodle of a character stand up -- but even he can't rescue the idea that his character would fall in love with Ms. Jones. Why would he do THAT?

This movie's working really hard to make Bridget adorable, to make her haplessness touching. It didn't work for me. Bridget's an "event magnet"; she's the sort of person things are always happening "to" mainly because of how oblivious she is to everything outside her own head. She's self-involved, and things just sort of keep knocking over when she accidentally stumbles into them. The lovable quality just didn't outweigh the obnoxious one. She's really kind of a jerk in several spots.

It isn't Renee Zellweger's fault, she's basically as adorable as anyone going. It's the writing and the directing. I mean, c'mon -- the character goes to a "tarts and vicars" costume wearing a playboy bunny costume. When she realizes it isn't really a costumer, she continues to wear her outfit, complete with bunny ears, for the rest of the party and (apparently) all the way home to her flat in London. Hours after her humiliation, she hasn't taken the ears off? That's pretty DANG contrived. Jack Tripper could have stumbled in from "Three's Company" at any moment, making lovey eyes at Bridget, and you wouldn't have blinked.

This struck me as just another poor, soundtrack-pushing adaptation of a pretty good pop novel. The DVD includes some of the original "Diary" entries as an added feature, and they give you the sense of a bright-enough person who's being endearingly self-deprecating in her journal. That never came across for me.

My advice is to try the books.