Bridget Jones's Baby

I was truly curious to see the continuation of the story of Bridget Jones, as the first part is a favourite of mine and the second part was also a good comedy. I have to admit that they have really managed to return with grace after twelve long years. The acting and writing by Emma Thompson certainly helped a lot, but the original cast were no slouches either. The film has a lot of funny scenes, innuendos and awkward situations that had me laughing out loud more than once, which is a major achievement in a comedy. All in all, I left the cinema really satisfied and I'm curious if there will be a sequel, as the "cliffhanger" at the end of the film literally encouraged it. (22/09/2016)

Yes, it's logical that Patrick Dempsey is kind of a stand-in for Hugh Grant, so why not follow through with that assumption? The problem with the trio is that Bridget's development doesn't make sense. Whatever happened to the tragic awkwardness of her struggle with excess weight, her bad habits, and her incapacity to work? The new Bridget is new and incredible, as is Renée Zellweger's new face. Colin Firth, though, is sad, tired, and lacking in energy. What I could imagine as entertainment in paper form, where the basic situation of "an impractical heroine suddenly dealing with fatherhood between two all-too-attractive men who don't suit her at all" is barely sketched out in a series of funny anecdotes, and it is rather boring in a two-hour film of the same stuff. (13/02/2019)

I didn't expect it to be a good movie, and I especially didn't expect to handle Renée in her new, strange look, but in the end, it turned out that this series probably can't disappoint, and most importantly, it's still entertaining, even though the premise of the third film is quite simple. The return to all the characters was nice and, most importantly, entertaining. (29/09/2016)

“You turn disasters into victories.” Bridget Jones’s Baby is a mostly successful attempt at making a tasteful romantic comedy for adult viewers that will make you forget the dreadful second Bridget Jones film while remembering the best of Working Title’s genre productions. However, the filmmakers try too hard to fulfil high expectations, which becomes apparent in the excessive runtime (and the resulting problems with pacing), and to play it safe (e.g. impressive but not very effective slow-motion shots and the autotelic inclusion of catchy pop songs). What we see is basically the third variation of the same story template, which is very predictable from start to finish despite the addition of a new unknown feature (the unborn child). Nevertheless, the film offers some surprises at least with small things like the generally believable behaviour of all of the main characters (Bridget finally acts in accordance with her age), who are able to reflect on their idiotic conduct (Jack apologises for lying to Mark). The incomprehension of today’s world of internet dating, photos of cats resembling Hitler, hipsters and Pussy Riot may not be as striking as in Marie Poledňáková’s films, but in places it is still painfully obvious that the filmmakers are stuck in a different era and are trying in vain to catch up with the times. What works best are the universal jokes on the topic of “men vs. women”, most of which co-screenwriter Emma Thompson stole for herself (a great line involving childbirth and a burning pub), that you will remember days after the screening. But you probably won’t remember much else. 70% (16/09/2016)

Fifteen years ago, I couldn’t stand Bridget Jones, but I feel that this part took the main character’s stupidity down by about fifty percent and the authors decided to direct the humor rather towards the individual scenes. And you know what? It’s been a long time since I had this good of a laugh and it’s also been a very long time since I saw a comedy that would be really funny and at the same time not vulgar at all. And if I have, it was borderline adequate. So completely OK. There was so much humor in this film that I will only probably absorb it once I watch the movie again on TV. So, I must admit that I didn’t feel like seeing this movie in the cinema, but in the end I really enjoyed it. Excellent British humor the likes of which I haven’t seen in a movie or TV show in a long time. (10/10/2016)