I Loved Bridget Jones, But Mad About The Boy Isn’t The One

Growing up in the 2000s, the Bridget Jones series were the ultimate comfort films for me. To this day, I still cackle with my family and friends over the cringe-inducing scenes involving Bridget climbing back up a fireman’s pole on national television and the hilarious flailing fistfights in fountains between her love interests.  

When I heard there was more Bridget on the way, I was initially excited… until I discovered which book from author Helen Fielding was being adapted. And unfortunately, the freshly dropped first trailer for the film confirmed my fears once and for all.  

Spoilers for Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy below 

The fourth instalment in the series will bring back the relatable, loveable and clumsy Bridget Jones in all her glory, including Renée Zellweger in the starring role. However, her one true love, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), was killed four years before this new flick is set while working on a humanitarian mission in Sudan, according to the official synopsis from Variety.   

The first trailer for the film confirms that our rom-com heroine is navigating life as a widow, and the mum of two young kids, Billy and Mabel. We see Bridget imagining her late husband by her side and discussing how much she misses him with her daughter.  

There will still be romance of course – the footage shows Bridget getting back on the dating scene with a 29-year-old toy boy, played by Leo Woodall.  

Now don’t get me wrong, an exploration of a complex love life after losing your soulmate is a nuanced story to tell, especially when the father is leaving behind a family unit… but that’s not what I want to watch Bridget Jones for.  

These films are my virtual fuzzy blankets and cups of cocoa during the winter months. Many people dream of finding their own Mark Darcy, standing in the snow and accepting them for who they are – though perhaps we’d all agree that we wouldn’t be clad in just our knickers for that part like Bridget is.  

While many parts of the original two films haven’t aged well – particularly the aspects of Bridget’s weight and her sexually harassing ‘uncle’ – the core love story has still held up to this day.

All three films in the franchise, Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Bridget Jones’s Baby spent all that time building up the most solid romance possible between the pair, overcoming the lies of the dastardly Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) and the charms of Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey) to achieve an endgame that so many of us dream of.  

I feel extremely shallow saying this, but to kill Mark off feels like an insult to that perfectly crafted tale. I completely accept that Fielding is challenging our views of what a happy ending looks like, and some may want to see how that unfolds – but right now I can’t feel excited for a tale that is guaranteed to make me sad. Many readers of the series agreed, as shown by this BBC piece from 2013.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the fourth Bridget Jones. Daniel Cleaver is back on the scene – he was absent from the third movie as Hugh Grant had filming conflicts due to Paddington 2 (and fair enough, he was brilliant in that).

We’ll also see the return of her supportive and often scathing friends, Shazzer, Jude and Tom, her nosey mother and cheeky father, and the straight-talking Dr. Rawlings, played by the brilliant Emma Thompson. And of course, Mark Darcy will still be in it – but I assume mainly through flashbacks and figments of Bridget’s active imagination.  

If that ticks all your boxes, then all the power to you. Mad About the Boy will debut on US streaming platform Peacock on 13 February 2025, though it won’t be getting a cinematic release in the States. However, moviegoers internationally (including in the UK) will be able to see it on the big screen from 14 February – Valentine’s Day.

As for me, I’ll be watching the first three films on repeat over the festive period, but it’s going to take some convincing for me to accept a Bridget Jones world without her Mark in it.

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