Bridget Jones's Diary
It's amazing what some men find attractive.
A review by Mike Shea Movie Rating: ( * * · · · ) DVD Rating: ( * * * * · )
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One of my favorite scenes in movie history is the very first scene in Renee Zellweger proves that she has such balls, even if her movie is really nothing more than a chick flick with some color. Anyone can get a personal trainer and get abs of steel given enough time and money, but only those truly secure actors are willing to show their fat ass sliding down a fireman's pole over and over and over again.
Bridgette Jones's Diary got a lot of good feedback. The critics loved it, the public loved it. Hell, you'd have to be a woman hating neo-nazi not to love it, so I guess I fucking well better. But...I don't. It does have some great characters in it. Jones's mother and father are two of the most well rounded characters you will find. Even Hugh Grant is witty and spontaneous enough to remind us of the assholes our girlfriends broke up with us over. Each of the characters has a lot of depth and a lot of little background quirks, just enough to breathe life into a movie that is one step from a Julia Roberts Romantic Comedy.
Unfortunately, once again, we are treated like morons. The main emotional driving point is so blatantly obvious to even a caveman like me that instead of being surprised with emotional delight, I was screaming "of course you dumb fat bitch! Comeon!". It scared the hell out of my cat, thats for sure. The end has so many roller coaster plot shifts that you could almost give a shit by the credits, but don't. It was just too much complexity for such a simple plot. It would seem that conflict was more of an afterthought than any real driving force in the story.
The DVD has a 1.85 to 1 16x9 enhanced picture and a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There are no real extras to speak of, but I couldn't really see myself sitting through a commentary. The first movie that showed me Brad Pitt was more than a pretty boy was 12 Monkeys. He fits the role of a psychotic bare-assed boffoon so well that we couldn't be any more repulsed by him if we tried. The one-last-toke ex-con played by Being John Malcovich. Zelweger shows too that in order to be a truly great actor, one must take the bad along with the good. With no fear of self image, she adds 30 pounds and puts herself in situations that Meg Ryan wouldn't even read about. For this alone, the film is probably worth watching, but make sure you have a date along or the Man Club will be taking back your NRA license and Nascar poster.