Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, a review

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy brings 20 years of Renée Zellweger’s reign as Bridget Jones, diary keeper, to a close. This one is slightly different in tone from the earlier films. Bridget is grieving, has kids, and finds carrying on with living after a loss hard to figure out.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy begins with Bridget trying to herd her children to school. She’s a widow with two kids. Billy (Casper Knopf) is quiet and nerdy, just like his dad Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Mark has been dead for 4 years, but still gets to make ghostly appearances in the movie as part of Bridget’s imagination. Her daughter Mabel (Mila Jankovic) is just like her mom. And right now, mom is a disordered mess who takes her kids to school wearing her pajamas and still hasn’t started back to work after Mark’s death.

But the movie is about moving on with life after grief knocks you down, so all that is about to change.

There’s a new and annoying science teacher with a loud whistle at the school, Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor). The other mothers look at Bridget with raised eyebrows. Her friends all think she needs to start dating and having sex again. One of them signs her up on Tinder.

She takes the kids to the park where they promptly climb a tree they can’t get down from. So she climbs the same tree and also can’t get down. Coming to her rescue are Mr. Wallaker and the park ranger (who sees her on Tinder), a very young Roxster (Leo Woodall).

Even though Roxster is over 20 years her junior, she begins a romance with him. It definitely brings her out of her funk.

She hires a fantastic nanny named Chloe (Nico Parker). Chloe is a far better babysitter than her friend Daniel (Hugh Grant), who teaches the kids how to make mixed drinks. Bridget goes back to work. Things get better.

Meanwhile, Bridget is getting to know Mr. Wallaker. She goes with the students on a hike/camp out and she and Mr. Wallaker talk a lot about marshmallows, life after death, magic, and her children.

As we watch Bridget move through (but not entirely beyond) her grief and her children’s grief, we see her open up. Maybe one of these men will win her heart?

I loved all the Easter eggs harking back to former Bridget Jones movies. So many people showed up in small or bit parts to connect back. There were moments with Shirley Henderson, Gemma Jones, Emma Thompson, Jim Broadbent, Leila Frazad, Joanna Scanlan, Celie Imrie, and Sarah Solemani. Lots of wonderful British talent showed up for this one.

Helen Fielding, who started this whole Bridget Jones thing 20 years ago, was one of the writers. Dan Mazer and Abi Morgan also wrote this one. Michael Morris was the director. The third film in the series came out in 2016. It’s been a minute.

This fourth and final Bridget Jones movie can be seen on Peacock.