Bringing up ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’
It seems strange to refer to a franchise that originated circa 2001 as a throwback, but we’re all 15 years older than we were when “Bridget Jones’s Diary” first arrived in theaters, and trust me, the sooner you’ve made your peace with that, the easier this will be.
There’s no avoiding the passage of time in “Bridget Jones’s Baby.”
Sure, you may be momentarily distracted by the sight of two of Hollywood’s hunkiest leading men (Colin Firth and Patrick Dempsey) toting an Academy Award-winning actress (Renee Zellwegger) down the streets of London like a sack of russet potatoes, but then it’s straight back to time.
A lot of ink has been spilled over Zellwegger’s almost decadelong absence from the movies — most of it uninteresting. The actress and Firth, the remaining two of the Bridget Jones’ big three (Hugh Grant opted not to return) both look a little older — and to anyone expecting differently after the 12-year gap between this sequel and the last ... well, God bless your skin care regiment.
As a very wise whip-wielding archeologist once said, it’s not the years, it’s the mileage, and “Bridget Jones’s Baby” covers a lot of distance straight out of the gate simply by allowing for enough pages to have turned on the calendar.
The mechanics of the plot are simple enough. After a double helping of one night stands, the first with a handsome American stranger (Dempsey) and the second in the arms of off-and-on-again beau Mark Darcy (Firth), Bridget finds herself pregnant — and with nary a clue to the identity of the father.
It’s a story that could easily accommodate a woman in her 20s or 30s, but it wouldn’t have nearly as much texture as it does here. Bridget isn’t a woman looking to build a life so much as she’s already moved in and arranged all of the furniture.
Professionally accomplished and supported by a broad network of friends and family, there’s little question that she could handle this pregnancy all on her own if she wanted to, but a big part of the fun is watching her try and decide between the lure of the future and the promise of the past.
The weight of her encounter with Darcy, who now has yet another failed marriage behind him, is palpable because of the long trail of dreams and disappointments entangled in their relationship.
How all of that plays out in the here and now is so earnestly represented that it’s very hard not to want to adopt “Bridget Jones’s Baby” — or least kick a little something toward the college fund.
This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 9:10 AM with the headline "Bringing up ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’."