Prior to the release of "Bridget Jones's Diary," critics were concerned about Renee Zellweger's ability to deliver a believable English accent. Even Renee was a bit uncertain as to how the public would judge her. Based on the universal praise, and box-office ticket sales since it's April 13, 2001 opening day, Renee's accent is a non-issue. Along with outstanding performances from the immensely talented Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, Renee's performance has wowed critics and moviegoers alike.
Saturday, 29 December 2012
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Thursday, 27 December 2012
Bridget jones diary cast and crew
Directed by
Sharon Maguire
Renee Zellweger
Gemma Jones
Celia Imrie
James Faulkner
Jim Broadbent
Colin Firth
Charmian May
Hugh Grant
Paul Brooke
Felicity Montagu
Shirley Henderson
Sally Phillips
James Callis
Sharon Maguire
Renee Zellweger
Gemma Jones
Celia Imrie
James Faulkner
Jim Broadbent
Colin Firth
Charmian May
Hugh Grant
Paul Brooke
Felicity Montagu
Shirley Henderson
Sally Phillips
James Callis
Bridget jones diary review
Glory be, they didn't muck it up. "Bridget Jones's Diary," a beloved book about a heroine both lovable and human, has been made against all odds into a funny and charming movie that understands the charm of the original, and preserves it. The book, a fictional diary by a plump, 30-something London office worker, was about a specific person in a specific place. When the role was cast with Renee Zellweger, who is not plump and is from Texas, there was gnashing and wailing. Obviously the Miramax boys would turn London's pride into a Manhattanite, or worse.
Nothing doing. Zellweger put on 20-something pounds and developed the cutest little would-be double chin, as well as a British accent that sounds reasonable enough to me. (Sight & Sound, the British film magazine, has an ear for nuances and says the accent is "just a little too studiedly posh," which from them is praise.)
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As in the book, Bridget arrives at her 32nd birthday determined to take control of her life, which until now has consisted of smoking too much, drinking too much, eating too much, and not finding the right man, or indeed much of any man. In her nightmares, she dies fat, drunk and lonely, and is eaten by Alsatian dogs. She determines to monitor her daily intake of tobacco and alcohol units, and her weight, which she measures in stones. (A stone is 14 pounds; the British not only have pounds along with kilos but stones on top of pounds, although the other day a London street vendor was arrested for selling bananas by the pound in defiance of the new European marching orders; the next step is obviously for Brussels to impound Bridget's diary.)
Bridget's campaign proceeds unhappily when her mother (who "comes from the time when pickles on toothpicks were still the height of sophistication") introduces her to handsome Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), who is at a holiday party against his will and in a bad mood and is overheard (by Bridget) describing her as a "verbally incontinent spinster." Things go better at work, where she exchanges saucy e-mails with her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). His opener: "You appear to have forgotten your skirt." They begin an affair, while Darcy circles the outskirts of her consciousness, still looking luscious but acting emotionally constipated.
Zellweger's Bridget is a reminder of the first time we became really aware of her in a movie, in "Jerry Maguire," where she was so cute and vulnerable we wanted to tickle and console her at the same time. Her work in "Nurse Betty" (2000) was widely but not sufficiently praised, and now here she is, fully herself and fully Bridget Jones, both at once. A story like this can't work unless we feel unconditional affection for the heroine, and casting Zellweger achieves that; the only alternate I can think of is Kate Winslet, who comes close but lacks the self-destructive puppy aspects.
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The movie has otherwise been cast with dependable (perhaps infallible) British comic actors. The first time Hugh Grant appeared on screen, I chuckled for no good reason at all, just as I always do when I see Christopher Walken, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth or Jack Nicholson—because I know that whatever the role, they will infuse it with more than the doctor ordered. Grant can play a male Bridget Jones (as he did in "Notting Hill"), but he's better as a cad, and here he surpasses himself by lying to Bridget about Darcy and then cheating on her with a girl from the New York office. (An "American stick insect," is what Bridget tells her diary.)
Colin Firth on the other hand must unbend to become lovable, and when we do finally love him, it's largely because we know what an effort it took on his part. "Bridget Jones's Diary" is famously, if vaguely, patterned after Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"; Firth played Mr. Darcy in the BBC's 1995 adaptation of the novel, and now plays another Darcy here. I didn't see the TV version but learn from the critic James Berardinelli that Firth "plays this part exactly as he played the earlier role, making it evident that the two Darcys are essentially the same."
It is a universal rule of romantic fiction that all great love stories must be mirrored by their low-comedy counterpoints. Just as Hal woos Katharine, Falstaff trifles with Doll Tearsheet. If Bridget must choose between Mark and Daniel, then her mother (Gemma Jones) must choose between her kindly but easy-chair-loving husband (Jim Broadbent) and a dashing huckster for a TV shopping channel.
The movie strings together one funny set-piece after another, as when Bridget goes in costume to a party where she thought the theme was "Tarts & Vicars." Or when she stumbles into a job on a TV news show and makes her famous premature entrance down the fire pole. Or when she has to decide at the beginning of an evening whether sexy underwear or tummy- crunching underwear will do her more good in the long run. Bridget charts her own progress along the way, from "tragic spinster" to "wanton sex goddess," and the movie gives almost unreasonable pleasure as it celebrates her bumpy transition.
Nothing doing. Zellweger put on 20-something pounds and developed the cutest little would-be double chin, as well as a British accent that sounds reasonable enough to me. (Sight & Sound, the British film magazine, has an ear for nuances and says the accent is "just a little too studiedly posh," which from them is praise.)
.jpg)
As in the book, Bridget arrives at her 32nd birthday determined to take control of her life, which until now has consisted of smoking too much, drinking too much, eating too much, and not finding the right man, or indeed much of any man. In her nightmares, she dies fat, drunk and lonely, and is eaten by Alsatian dogs. She determines to monitor her daily intake of tobacco and alcohol units, and her weight, which she measures in stones. (A stone is 14 pounds; the British not only have pounds along with kilos but stones on top of pounds, although the other day a London street vendor was arrested for selling bananas by the pound in defiance of the new European marching orders; the next step is obviously for Brussels to impound Bridget's diary.)
Bridget's campaign proceeds unhappily when her mother (who "comes from the time when pickles on toothpicks were still the height of sophistication") introduces her to handsome Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), who is at a holiday party against his will and in a bad mood and is overheard (by Bridget) describing her as a "verbally incontinent spinster." Things go better at work, where she exchanges saucy e-mails with her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). His opener: "You appear to have forgotten your skirt." They begin an affair, while Darcy circles the outskirts of her consciousness, still looking luscious but acting emotionally constipated.
Zellweger's Bridget is a reminder of the first time we became really aware of her in a movie, in "Jerry Maguire," where she was so cute and vulnerable we wanted to tickle and console her at the same time. Her work in "Nurse Betty" (2000) was widely but not sufficiently praised, and now here she is, fully herself and fully Bridget Jones, both at once. A story like this can't work unless we feel unconditional affection for the heroine, and casting Zellweger achieves that; the only alternate I can think of is Kate Winslet, who comes close but lacks the self-destructive puppy aspects.
.jpg)
The movie has otherwise been cast with dependable (perhaps infallible) British comic actors. The first time Hugh Grant appeared on screen, I chuckled for no good reason at all, just as I always do when I see Christopher Walken, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth or Jack Nicholson—because I know that whatever the role, they will infuse it with more than the doctor ordered. Grant can play a male Bridget Jones (as he did in "Notting Hill"), but he's better as a cad, and here he surpasses himself by lying to Bridget about Darcy and then cheating on her with a girl from the New York office. (An "American stick insect," is what Bridget tells her diary.)
Colin Firth on the other hand must unbend to become lovable, and when we do finally love him, it's largely because we know what an effort it took on his part. "Bridget Jones's Diary" is famously, if vaguely, patterned after Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"; Firth played Mr. Darcy in the BBC's 1995 adaptation of the novel, and now plays another Darcy here. I didn't see the TV version but learn from the critic James Berardinelli that Firth "plays this part exactly as he played the earlier role, making it evident that the two Darcys are essentially the same."
It is a universal rule of romantic fiction that all great love stories must be mirrored by their low-comedy counterpoints. Just as Hal woos Katharine, Falstaff trifles with Doll Tearsheet. If Bridget must choose between Mark and Daniel, then her mother (Gemma Jones) must choose between her kindly but easy-chair-loving husband (Jim Broadbent) and a dashing huckster for a TV shopping channel.
The movie strings together one funny set-piece after another, as when Bridget goes in costume to a party where she thought the theme was "Tarts & Vicars." Or when she stumbles into a job on a TV news show and makes her famous premature entrance down the fire pole. Or when she has to decide at the beginning of an evening whether sexy underwear or tummy- crunching underwear will do her more good in the long run. Bridget charts her own progress along the way, from "tragic spinster" to "wanton sex goddess," and the movie gives almost unreasonable pleasure as it celebrates her bumpy transition.
Bridget jones diary movie overview
Prior to the release of "Bridget Jones's Diary," critics were concerned about Renee Zellweger's ability to deliver a believable English accent. Even Renee was a bit uncertain as to how the public would judge her. Based on the universal praise, and box-office ticket sales since it's April 13, 2001 opening day, Renee's accent is a non-issue. Along with outstanding performances from the immensely talented Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, Renee's performance has wowed critics and moviegoers alike.
.jpg)
Renee Zellweger stars as Bridget Jones, a single 30-something, with a meddling mother, a cad for a boss, and a close knit circle of eccentric friends. Her love life is non-existent, while her consumption of alcohol and her addiction to cigarettes is close to lethal. At the end of her proverbial rope, she attempts to take charge of her life by keeping a diary. In addition to info on the latest "singleton" her mother has tried to set her up with, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth in an understated yet memorable performance), notations in her diary include the exact number of cigarettes she's smoked that day and updates on her ever-fluctuating weight.
Knowing in her head that he's definitely off-limits, yet unable to convincingly relay that info to her heart, Bridget begins dating her boss, Daniel Cleaver (played with wicked charm by Hugh Grant). He's a publishing executive with too much testosterone for his own good. On the surface, the two actually seem to have a wonderful relationship, but you just know that they're not going to have a fairy tale ending. Mark Darcy (minus the tacky, yet strangely enduring, reindeer sweater he was wearing when Bridget's mom first tried to play matchmaker) pops in and out of the picture as Bridget and Daniel's relationship develops and then falls apart. Seems Mark and Daniel have a history - though Daniel's tale of their joint past is in direct opposition to Mark's memories of the same events.
Filmgoers should have fun equating Bridget's relationship trials and tribulations with their own experiences, or that of their friends. There's a little bit of Bridget in almost everyone. Moviegoers who love to laugh out loud without fear of embarrassment will find like-minded audiences attending "Bridget Jones's Diary." "Bridget Jones's Diary" is a rare jewel with honest, intelligent, and humorous dialogue delivered by an outstanding cast. Even "serious" moviegoers can relax and enjoy this delightful film.
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I loved this film and immediately wanted to rush out and buy the soundtrack. The songs selected for the soundtrack fit the film perfectly and became a major contributor to the film's overall ambience. Every emotion Bridget goes through is verbalized through the teaming of the scenes with the songs. When Bridget finds herself torn between the sexually-charged relationship with Daniel and the more sedate, yet cerebral, connection with Mark, "It's Raining Men" pounds through theatre speakers. It's moments like that that make "Bridget Jones's Diary" a thoroughly enjoyable film.
.jpg)
Renee Zellweger stars as Bridget Jones, a single 30-something, with a meddling mother, a cad for a boss, and a close knit circle of eccentric friends. Her love life is non-existent, while her consumption of alcohol and her addiction to cigarettes is close to lethal. At the end of her proverbial rope, she attempts to take charge of her life by keeping a diary. In addition to info on the latest "singleton" her mother has tried to set her up with, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth in an understated yet memorable performance), notations in her diary include the exact number of cigarettes she's smoked that day and updates on her ever-fluctuating weight.
Knowing in her head that he's definitely off-limits, yet unable to convincingly relay that info to her heart, Bridget begins dating her boss, Daniel Cleaver (played with wicked charm by Hugh Grant). He's a publishing executive with too much testosterone for his own good. On the surface, the two actually seem to have a wonderful relationship, but you just know that they're not going to have a fairy tale ending. Mark Darcy (minus the tacky, yet strangely enduring, reindeer sweater he was wearing when Bridget's mom first tried to play matchmaker) pops in and out of the picture as Bridget and Daniel's relationship develops and then falls apart. Seems Mark and Daniel have a history - though Daniel's tale of their joint past is in direct opposition to Mark's memories of the same events.
Filmgoers should have fun equating Bridget's relationship trials and tribulations with their own experiences, or that of their friends. There's a little bit of Bridget in almost everyone. Moviegoers who love to laugh out loud without fear of embarrassment will find like-minded audiences attending "Bridget Jones's Diary." "Bridget Jones's Diary" is a rare jewel with honest, intelligent, and humorous dialogue delivered by an outstanding cast. Even "serious" moviegoers can relax and enjoy this delightful film.
.jpg)
I loved this film and immediately wanted to rush out and buy the soundtrack. The songs selected for the soundtrack fit the film perfectly and became a major contributor to the film's overall ambience. Every emotion Bridget goes through is verbalized through the teaming of the scenes with the songs. When Bridget finds herself torn between the sexually-charged relationship with Daniel and the more sedate, yet cerebral, connection with Mark, "It's Raining Men" pounds through theatre speakers. It's moments like that that make "Bridget Jones's Diary" a thoroughly enjoyable film.
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