By
Graig Uhlin
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Grade: B+
Best-selling Helen Fielding novel translates nicely onto big screen
The film "Bridget Jones's Diary," much like its title character, has been wracked with insecurity since its beginning. Could the singular humor and diary format of the bestselling novel by Helen Fielding be translated into a feature film? Could Renee "you had me at hello" Zellweger pull off the much beloved protagonist, and do so with a believable British accent? Could a novel targeted at single women in their 30s appeal to a general audience?
Could it, indeed?
"Bridget Jones's Diary," the first feature film from documentary director Sharon Maguire, captures the wry, self-deprecating tone of the novel, giving the film several hilarious moments, which are most successful when Bridget's insecurities are on display. That is, of course, what is so appealing about Ms. Jones and why Fielding's novels have engendered such a loyal and wide following.
With her own brand of vocabulary ("singletons," "emotional fuckwit" and "smug marrieds") and her desire to be thin, sexy, emotionally stable and professionally successful, Bridget Jones stepped right into the zeitgeist of post-post-feminist society, where women want careers and independence but still just want to get married. It's a world of "The Rules," of self-help books, of the wish to not "die alone and be found three weeks later, half-eaten by wild dogs," as Bridget says. In fact, it's Bridget's world, and that kind of cultural weight is hard for any film to carry.
But this movie, for the most part, does it quite well.
There is one moment in the film, just as the opening credits roll, where Bridget, following yet another humiliating social encounter, alone in her apartment, bottle of wine in hand, sings along with what has to be her anthem, "All By Myself." Perfectly establishing the tone for the film, the lip-synch combines humor with the sympathy one feels for Bridget's almost pathetic desperation. From that one scene, audiences know this is not a typical romantic comedy.
Until the second half of the film, that is.
Throughout the movie, Bridget has been torn between the affections of two men - the reticent Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and the "bonified sex-god" Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). Over the course of her relationship with Daniel, from the shameless flirting over e-mail to the more troubled times, Bridget's insecurities are once again on display, making the film fresh and original. But once Darcy enters the picture as a romantic interest, the film loses a sense of its tone and feel, forgets about the guiding spirit of Bridget and reduces itself to typical romantic-comedy schlock.
It's not that there aren't still some very funny moments in the second half of the film, but with the increasingly ridiculous antics of Daniel and Mark, the film loses its emotional center - Bridget Jones. By the film's end, the romance seems contrived and forced - a side plot involving Bridget's parents' marriage problems proves more emotionally resonant.
Still, the film remains a remarkable - and often hilarious - achievement. And to answer the question above, Zellweger, even with her Harrods-bought British accent, deftly portrays the insecure Bridget, thankfully keeping her from becoming just another lonely woman desperate for a man. Bridget's dilemma, Zellweger seemingly realizes, is more than that - she feels, basically, that everyone else knows how to live their life while she is just struggling through her own.
It is this sentiment that makes Bridget Jones such an emotionally and culturally resonant icon. It is this sentiment that people see in themselves, and what makes Bridget such an endearing character to watch.
