By Grace Rose, First Year English
Rom-com lovers’ favourite frazzled English woman is set to return to the big screen one last time on Valentine's day this year, in the latest instalment of the beloved franchise ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’. In anticipation of the return of our blundering heroine, here is the rundown of the ground she has already trodden and the upcoming misadventures that the fourth instalment is set to grace us with.
In the first film ‘Bridget Jones Diary’ (2001) based on Helen Fielding's best selling novel, audiences met Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger), a thirty-two year old singleton living in London and the quintessential post third-wave feminism British career woman. Jones is a clumsy but confident woman with no apparent financial woes or logistical need for a man in her life. Yet she is completely preoccupied with the notion of settling down with ‘Mr. Right’ (an observation which does not entirely hold weight as a criticism considering audiences have knowingly signed up for a typical 2000s rom-com when sitting down with Bridget Jones). Zellweger’s character ends up romantically involved with her deceptive boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) while taking part in an utterly endearing enemies-to-lovers arc with her childhood family friend, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). By the end of ninety-seven minutes decorated with coarse sexual humour, poignantly funny wardrobe mishaps and a spot of family drama, Bridget seemingly reaches her happy ending with a snow-covered kiss on the streets of London with Mr. Darcy.
The second reprisal, ‘Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason’ (2004) picks up just weeks after the first and sees Bridget in her same bumbling romantic ways, allowing her misdirected jealousies over Mark’s beautiful new assistant (Jacinda Barrett) to drive a wedge between her and her ideal man. A series of unfortunate events unfold to hinder the peaceful happily-ever-after of Bridget and Mark, but when Jones’ jealousies finally take command of her she breaks up with Mark and travels to Thailand with resident scoundrel Daniel Cleaver to film a career-furthering new travel show. Bridget outlandishly ends up an accidental drug smuggler and lands herself in a Thai prison only until enamored Mark discreetly secures her release. The two end the film engaged, leaving audiences on a high.
In her most recent silver-screen return ‘Bridget Jones Baby’ (2016), Bridget finds herself single once more but this time she is pregnant by one of two men: the returning Mark Darcy or newcomer, business mogul Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey). The unfolding story sees her struggling with the uncertainty of her pregnancy, but once again rounds off with the happy rekindling of Bridget and Mark, this time in their marriage and the confirmation of her son as Mark’s.
The upcoming addition to the franchise is set to see the return of Zellweger in her titular role, as well as the return of her ‘Urban Family’ (Shazzer, Tom and Jude) and the reprisal of Hugh Grant’s role as Daniel Cleaver. Additions to the alreadystar-studded cast include Leo Woodhall, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Isla Fisher. What we know for certain of ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’ (2025) is this: Mark Darcy is dead having been killed by a landmine evacuating refugees four years prior (ever the hero!), Bridget is a widowed mother to her and Mark’s two children, and she is once again somewhat pitifully single. The stage is set for another journey into the wilderness of single life, yet this time Jones faces the unknowns of modern dating that have evolved since her last solo venture: social media, sexting and the minefield that is dating apps.
What can be obtained from the 2024 official trailer is that Bridget is to have two romantic interests in ‘Mad About the Boy’, both with varying degrees of impropriety - one being twenty years her junior (Woodhall) and the other being her child’s school teacher (Ejiofor) - which begs the question of how the final film will conclude when Bridget is arguably being set up with two somewhat unserious contenders. Given the vast leaps of change society has made since the release of the first film in the early noughties in terms of what it permits women to be at any age, does the franchise (rom-com or not) not owe it to modern culture to allow this loveable and unquestionably determined female character to end up on her own? It is also worth noting that this would not be a cruel or ‘woke’ fate to infringe upon the previously love-obsessed Bridget but rather the appropriate and enlightened character development for a woman in her fifties lucky enough to be educated, have a thriving career as a screenwriter, and the love and support of present friends and family. Additionally it may be that this is indeed the most romantic conclusion of all, as to have Bridget end up with anyone other than her Mr. Darcy may shatter the illusion established over the past two decades that these two renowned characters were always meant for each other, ‘just the way they are’.
Bridget Jones is a figure loved dearly for her rare quality of realistic patheticness yet she is never presented to the audience as meek or weak willed. Though she often wanders happily into predictable disasters and is in fact somewhat of a natural disaster herself when it comes to social etiquette, she is consistently alert to when it is necessary to stand her ground in both career and romance, as well as when it is necessary to concede. For a rom-com protagonist, especially of the era of the first film, she is starkly refreshing for providing both the comedy of hopeless longing and the empowering self-respect of knowing when to say no - “that is not a good enough offer for me” (thank you anyway, Mr. Cleaver). It is only right that this British icon gets the single send off she deserves with some debauchery along the way, but who knows what the Hollywood Gods will dictate for her…
Will you be watching Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy?
