For almost three decades, Bridget Jones has been the poster girl of the 'sad, lonely singleton' looking for love. Defined by her life-long fear of dying alone and being "half-eaten by Alsatians", Bridget (Renée Zellweger) has dedicated her life (and diary) to the pursuit of romance. That is, until, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
Almost 25 years after her big-screen debut in Bridget Jones's Diary, the fourth instalment is told through a different lens: one of loss. At the end of the third movie, Bridget is at long last loved-up with her Mr Darcy (Colin Firth) and ready to embark on all the heteronormative delights bestowed upon heroines in (most) picture-perfect romcom endings.
Several years later, that's all unravelled with the tragic death of Mark leaving Bridget a widowed mother-of-two watching her life pass in a blur of Penguin pyjama-clad school runs.
The last thing on her mind, despite the encouragement from her friends to download Tinder and 'get back out there', is finding a 'new' love. Bridget already found what she was looking for, and lost it; instead, she's now learning to co-exist with the anguish of that absence, and 'live' again as a fully-dressed, semi-presentable working adult.
The romantic storylines, though substantial, are a small piece of this puzzle. Bridget's short-but-healing fling with the boy who sprouted from her 'man-tree', Roxster (One Day's Leo Woodall), revives her spirit and sense of self-love.
She blooms under his gaze, back into the confident, self-assured, big-pant-wearing woman we know and love, even turning down his half-hearted attempt at a reunion. This comes before the more serious prospect of the slow burn with the frosty-at-first Mr Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor) comes into its own. But the constant? The love of her friends and family.
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Though Mad About the Boy is billed as a romantic comedy, it's so much more than that. It's an ode to all the loves in our messy, imperfect adult lives. The loves we've lost, our family, our friendships, old colleagues and unconventional friends (think Emma Thompson as her gynaecologist), as well as her flames.
Mad About the Boy is at its core about the many forms of love that provide Bridget with the feeling of being loved "just as she is". There's no expectation for Bridget to be a "thinner", better or "cleverer" (as Jude affectionately puts it), version of herself. This final outing proves that she has always found that unfiltered love in the unlikeliest of places.
Bridget comes back to life with the support of old, devilishly charming friends like Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), colleagues-turned friends and her three-decade-long ride-or-die friends. Whether it's dancing on her bed in pyjamas with her little ones or giddily giggling with her best friend before a date, this instalment celebrates platonic love as much as any romantic one.
Skirt-chasing charmer Daniel even admits he's become a little bit "tragic" and is envious of Bridget's relationship with her little ones, Billy (aka "Mini Darcy" as Daniel puts it) and the truth-talking Mabel. It confronts him with the "glory of what might have been" if he hadn't prioritised flirting through life and actually nurtured his other relationships, such as the one with his son Enzo.
No longer 'all by herself', Bridget has a life sickeningly-rich with love, which she now appreciates in a new light as they've revived her spirit after losing her greatest love of all, Mark. It was never about forgetting him or finding the 'one' again, but making room for all these different forms of love in the past and present.
The final scene is a tribute to the loves of Bridget's life, woven together in a tapestry of characters brought together on New Year's Eve. She even acknowledges that she's learnt to "live at the same time" as something that's been lost and continue to love, which is the true magic of this movie.
Bridget might be without Mark, but without love? Never.
Mad About the Boy is a refreshing change from the hazy, somewhat forgettable second and third films, as Bridget's view of love has shifted. She's no longer riddled with the self-doubt that she isn't worthy of a great love; in fact, she now can't seem to escape the fact that it has, and always will be, all around her.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is out now in UK cinemas and streaming exclusively on Peacock in the US.
Jess is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for over-analysing everyone’s favourite movies and TV shows. As an English graduate from the University of York with an MA in Creative Writing, Jess worked as a magazine editor before turning freelance. Since then, Jess has written for outlets such as GQ, The Guardian, Inverse, Huff Post, Stylist, and Insider. She specialises in the representation of mental health, grief, and women in film. She’s also a major Marvel nerd and is writing a YA fantasy novel. LinkedIn
