I have a confession to make (regarding Bridget Jones's Diary)

[Ann.without.an.e]

and I know that I am going to receive hate for this comment.  I just watched the highly acclaimed feature for the very first time.

 

If this is supposed to be a tale akin to Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones is a horrible Elizabeth Bennet.

Bridget Jones is shallow really.  Something about her irks me.  

 

Edited October 28, 2017 by Attolia

[hornblower]

I don't think it of it as akin to P&P but rather a modern homage. I kind of liked Bridg in the first one. It went downhill fast for me after that but the first had its moments. 

Lizzy and Bridget both wanted something out of life - something that seemed out of reach for them. 

[foxbridgeacademy]

I liked the first one, a lot, and agree it's more of an homage.  I've watched the others but really didn't care for them.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I watched it for about 10 minutes and gave up.  It didn't appeal to me at all.

 

 

[Zebra]

I see the movie as more of a homage to the 1990's Pride and Prejudice mini-series and specifically to Colin Firth as Mr Darcy.

 

Colin Firth IS Mr Darcy in my mind, and I love the cheeky nod to that in Bridget Jones Diary.

 

 

[AnnE-girl]

I liked the first one. The second was horrible. The third was ok, but the actors all looked too old to still be behaving so immaturely. But I don’t think you can ever have too much Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.

[catz]

I'll one up you and say I just don't like Renée Zellweger at all.  In anything.  #SorryNotSorry  :lol:

 

ETA - I'm sure she's a perfectly nice person but she is not a convincing actress to me.  I didn't like the Bridget Jones stories either.  And I LOVE P&P. 

Edited October 29, 2017 by WoolySocks

[Katy]

Bridget Jones is remarkable not for the P&P homage, but for the book starting the entire chick-lit divisions of publishing companies.

 

The movies are just as goofy as any of the more current romantic comedies - the problem with those stories is that there is no socially acceptable reasons for relationships not to work out any more - money, race, cultures, innocence, all the former go-to rom com tropes are no longer PC reasons for a couple to stay apart, and since Nora Ephron died no one else has been able to write culturally relevant widely popular romantic comedies at all.

 

If you appreciate Bridget for the awkward stage of being an older single woman who desperately wants a family, it's entertaining.  But it's never going to be on the same level as P&P.

[scrapbookbuzz]

At the risk of having rotten tomatoes thrown at me, I didn't like Bridget Jones' Diary (the movie; haven't read the book)

or Pride & Prejudice (the book; I have seen one movie version). They always take too long to say what they actually mean!

Yes, I know "it was the era" and all that. I so would NOT have fit in!

[Word Nerd]

I thought she was annoying.

[Epicurean]

I think it says a lot about our culture that someone like Bridget is today's Elizabeth Bennett.

[Laura Corin]

With regard to the age of the actors - we rent out a flat in London to thirty somethings, and two out of three seem to be living a life similar to the BJ characters.

 

I read BJ as it first came out as a column in a UK newspaper in the mid 90s. I think it caught something of the times.

 

I only saw the first film and thought it was fine.

Edited October 29, 2017 by Laura Corin

[kewb]

Never saw it.

When the movie came out the commercials didn't appeal to me. I was clearly not the target audience.

[Zebra]

I don't think Bridget is supposed to be Lizzie Bennet.   I think it's more about the falling in love with Mr Darcy fantasy.

 

At the time it was pretty hilarious that Hugh Grant was going to play the bad guy.  And Colin Firth had enough of a sense of humor to reprise Mr Darcy.   Maybe it's a context thing, maybe it's an old ladies who love Hugh Grant and Colin Firth thing.   

 

FWIW people go absolutely nuts about the Mr Darcy wet shirt scene in P&P, which is why in the 2nd Bridget Jones movie they have a fight in a fountain.

 

I just see it as a clever modern take.  To the point of, most modern people haven't read the book and just have seen the mini-series.  I always felt like the movie was making fun of itself and the people who would watch it.   But I could be overreaching  :laugh: .

 

It doesn't mean the movie is that good or for everyone  :lol: !   And the sequels are horrible.

 

 

 

 

 

[lavender's green]

BJ is about the only rom com I can stand! :lol:  It's so cheesy, I love it!

 

No, I don't think it's at all like P&P. I get irked when people say it is.

 

I think it's poking fun at itself. I know many women who consider themselves "such a Lizzie" when they're, ahem, not. The world has plenty of Kitties, Marys, and Lady Catherines in it too, but no, it's always Lizzie (or maybe Jane). I get it, she's a great person to be, and there's arguably just enough open to interpretation that you can see see yourself in her, maybe especially when you add in the embarrassing family and rival lovers.

 

So I think the movie is throwing a Mr. Wickham and  Mr. Darcy at this "I'm such a Lizzie" woman who's desperate to settle down (unlike Lizzie, I might add). Add in some modern shenanigans, and you've got a funny little rom com.

[Ann.without.an.e]

I see the movie as more of a homage to the 1990's Pride and Prejudice mini-series and specifically to Colin Firth as Mr Darcy.

 

Colin Firth IS Mr Darcy in my mind, and I love the cheeky nod to that in Bridget Jones Diary.

 

 

I liked the first one. The second was horrible. The third was ok, but the actors all looked too old to still be behaving so immaturely. But I don’t think you can ever have too much Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.

 

 

 

FWIW people go absolutely nuts about the Mr Darcy wet shirt scene in P&P, which is why in the 2nd Bridget Jones movie they have a fight in a fountain.

 

 

 

 

Colin Firth did make the entire thing redeeming.  He is the only Mr. Darcy in my mind.  And, yes, the wet white shirt as he came up from the lake was the sexiest scene in any movie ever in my humble little opinion.  :drool5:

[Lady Florida.]

I enjoyed the original but didn't care for (or even finish watching) the others.

 

I agree with what other posters said. It's not supposed to be a modern day P&P, at least not in the way Clueless was a modern day version of Emma. It's more a nod to the Colin Firth version and doesn't really have anything to do with Austen's book. 

 

To those who actually do like Bridget Jones' Diary - have any of you watched Lost in Austen? That silly mini series is one of my guilty pleasures.

[Matryoshka]

And, yes, the wet white shirt as he came up from the lake was the sexiest scene in any movie ever in my humble little opinion. :drool5:

But that scene does not even exist in the movie. Colin Firth dives into the lake, and in the next scene he is seen later in a dry shirt walking to his manor.

 

It appears that many women have added that scene from their imagination. :) there is a Mr. Darcy wet shirt scene, but it is another movie that plays homage to that P&P (Lost in Austen?), and the actor is not Colin Firth. :)

Edited October 29, 2017 by Matryoshka

[Saddlemomma]

and I know that I am going to receive hate for this comment.  I just watched the highly acclaimed feature for the very first time.

 

If this is supposed to be a tale akin to Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones is a horrible Elizabeth Bennet.

Bridget Jones is shallow really.  Something about her irks me.  

 

Yup.  I just watched this for the first time as well.  Didn't care for it at all.  Oh well....

[Ann.without.an.e]

But that scene does not even exist in the movie. Colin Firth dives into the lake, and in the next scene he is seen later in a dry shirt walking to his manor.

 

It appears that many women have added that scene from their imagination. :) there is a Mr. Darcy wet shirt scene, but it is another movie that plays homage to that P&P (Lost in Austen?), and the actor is not Colin Firth. :)

 

 

I just remember the white shirt.  I think someone else said wet?  or maybe I imagined someone said wet.  I don't really know.  I was questioning, myself, the wetness of the shirt haha

[Zebra]

But that scene does not even exist in the movie. Colin Firth dives into the lake, and in the next scene he is seen later in a dry shirt walking to his manor.

 

It appears that many women have added that scene from their imagination. :) there is a Mr. Darcy wet shirt scene, but it is another movie that plays homage to that P&P (Lost in Austen?), and the actor is not Colin Firth. :)

 

His shirt is at least damp, and so is his hair when he is walking back home.

 

People just swoon over this scene, and I find it hilarious.  The way people described it to me before I saw it, I thought it was much more exciting than that.   It's very tame. 

 

And, I love this quote from Colin Firth:

 

“I'm fully aware," Firth told a reporter for the English magazine Now, "that if I were to change professions tomorrow, become an astronaut and be the first man to land on Mars, the headlines in the newspapers would read: `Mr. Darcy Lands on Mars.â€

[Word Nerd]

But that scene does not even exist in the movie. Colin Firth dives into the lake, and in the next scene he is seen later in a dry shirt walking to his manor.

 

It appears that many women have added that scene from their imagination. :) there is a Mr. Darcy wet shirt scene, but it is another movie that plays homage to that P&P (Lost in Austen?), and the actor is not Colin Firth. :)

 

We never see him coming out of the lake, but I definitely wouldn't say his shirt is dry. It's wet enough to be clingy and see through it!