If only this had just had the courage of it’s convictions! It’s four years now since a land mine rendered “Bridget” (Renée Zellweger) a single mum with the lively “Billy” (Casper Knopf) and “Mabel” (Mila Jankovic) keeping her on her toes and giving her an excuse not to meet new people. It’s when she uses some chocolate buttons to lure her kids to the heath that she quickly finds herself stuck in a tree trying to rescue her children and in turn attracting the attention of their teacher “Wallaker” (Chiwitel Ejiofor) and the hunky ranger “Roxster” (Leo Woodall). Now she’d already met the whistle-obsessed tutor but the younger man, well he just sent her heart a flutter! A bit of internet flirting later and she’s “Bridget” reborn, reanimated and refocussed. Her friends are delighted, especially at his dog-rescuing skills. Thing is, though, there’s the age gap. There’s the children who miss their dad. There’s nerves and the ghastly millennial trait of “ghosting”. Meantime, “Billy” isn’t doing so well emotionally at school. This means that she must deal more with his teacher, and with the school in general - which leads to a revelatory school trip where it’s not just the marshmallows that get toasted. With choices galore, will anyone end up happy? Zellweger is in her element here and just exudes an enthusiasm for the part, and the kids also deliver quite naturally as they contribute to her daily maelstrom, but the whole selling point of this film just peters out and I found myself thinking her a rather cruel and selfish individual as a degree of more pedestrian predictability took over. Hugh Grant earthily livens up a few scenes but the old guard of Jones/Broadbent/Imrie don’t really feature enough to remind us of just why we ever really cared about “Bridget” in the first place. The television aspects with Neil Pearson are almost entirely devoid of humour and though Helen Fielding still has an entertaining grasp of what makes people tick and giggle, the spark has largely gone from the mix. Woodall is perfect eye candy and brings an engaging normalcy to his role but that rather sums this up - light and fluffy, worth a watch, but just a bit too cowardly for my liking.

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<em>'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy'</em> is a fourth walk-through this particular universe and I have to say that it is a positive return to the world of Bridget Jones. It is funny in parts and features a noteworthy cast, though its more sombre side somewhat surprised (s)me. I'm not someone who has read the books (obviously... me read a book, come on now!) so I didn't know where this was going to go, I did hear before watching that it had been praised and that it had a more emotive plot - and it does. It conveys its messaging about loss convincingly. The ending is the point that that element reaches its pinnacle, I could hear a few sniffles amongst those around me in a packed out cinema. For me personally it was a bit too on the nose, but there is no doubt that it is a touching moment nevertheless; sold well by youngster Casper Knopf. Renée Zellweger continues to fit the role of the titular character perfectly, anything said about her peformances in the preceding three films can simply be repeated here. Elsewhere on the cast, Hugh Grant's Daniel remains very creepy but the actor undeniably makes it work. Chiwetel Ejiofor puts in a solidly good showing, I do like watching him act. Leo Woodall is a new name to me and he is decent, his character isn't really much of anything but no issues with Woodall himself. Other than those, it's nice to see all the familiar faces from the prior flicks.

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