Movie Review: 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' is So Good

Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy

Directed by Michael Morris

Written by Helen Fielding, Dan Mazar, Abi Morgan

Starring Renee Zellweger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Hugh Grant, Leo Woodall

Release Date February 13th, 2025

Published February 15th, 2025

Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy is shockingly good. Admittedly, I had extremely low expectations for this late period sequel about Bridget as a single mom, several years into grieving the loss of her beloved husband, Mark Darcy. What a wonderful surprise then to find that the film felt remarkably authentic, warm hearted, and highly reminiscent of the charming first chapter of this film series. Renee Zellweger has such a remarkable handle on this character today that even two decades later, instead of feeling like a perfunctory attempt to further capitalize a well known property, Zellweger's performance in Mad About the Boy is one I can’t help but fall in love with.

Five years ago as this story begins, Mark Darcy died while on a humanitarian trip in Africa. He leaves behind Bridget and their two lovely children, Billy (Casper Knopf) and Mabel (Mila Jankovic). As a trio, they are doing okay. Bridget may rarely get out of her PJ’s but she is a wonderful, supportive, and loving mom. But, it has been five years, perhaps it is time for Bridget to get back into the world. Perhaps she needs to go back to work? Perhaps it’s time for her to start dating again.

On the dating front, the story sets up two tracks, relatively reminiscent of Bridget’s origin story with her attention divided between Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), This time, the two tracks are a much younger man, a park ranger and budding scientist named Roxster (Leo Woodall), and a new teacher at her kids’ school, a whistle blowing, rule enforcing, Mark Darcy-esque square, named Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor). It’s derivative, of course, but in the hands of Renee Zellweger, Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor, it really works.

Roxster gets Bridget out of her PJ’s and back into her satin panties. They have a passionate affair that proves to Bridget that she’s just as desirable as she’s always been. Credit to the filmmakers, the movie is not setting up a story where Bridget becomes neglectful while selfishly pursuing her own desires. She remains a great mom and is able to have mind blowing sex with a much younger man. Naturally, this relationship is going to be tested and slowly Mr. Wallaker will be introduced as the other option for Bridget’s love life.

Meanwhile, the director Michael Morris and the team of screenwriters working with author Helen Fielding, do a wonderful job of filling out Bridget’s world. We get welcome returns from Bridget’s old circle of friends, we get to see her mother, as passive aggressively hilarious as ever, and, most importantly, we get Daniel Cleaver back. Yes, Hugh Grant is here and as saucy as ever. Daniel and Bridget have settled into a wonderfully flirty friendship where Daniel is the adoptive Uncle of Bridget’s kids and she advises him about his many, many, relationships. Hugh Grant is a treasure in this role and, even in a relatively small amount of screentime, he steals scenes in the best possible ways.

I loved the first Bridget Jones film, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and somehow, I love Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy just as much. The filmmakers have rediscovered the spiky heart of the original and expanded on it beautifully. Thus, we get a Bridget Jones who is unapologetically sloppy and sexy and still a loving mom and wonderful friend. Bridget inhabits a universe filled with love and pratfalls, silliness and sadness and all of it feels so warm and welcoming, even after 20 plus years and several movies of varying quality.

I adored this latest Bridget Jones movie and if we never get another Bridget Jones, it’s a great send off for the character. That said, I wouldn’t be unhappy about seeing Bridget again. These filmmakers and star Renee Zellweger have proven that there was still plenty of wonderfully rich life in this character. So often we are fed reheated intellectual property that props up well known characters with names we recognize for the sole purpose of selling tickets and no care for the quality of the movie. Michael Morris, Helen Fielding, and their collaborators could have gotten by just slapping something together. Instead they mined for something original, moving, warm and quite funny, all in the tradition of the wonderful film that kicked off an unlikely franchise.

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