Another year's turkey-curry buffet is where Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) arrives to find the same stuffy old guests and a horrible holiday outfit that her mother has picked out for her. When she meets Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) at the party she is immediately embarrassed by her mother's (Gemma Jones) comment that she use to run naked in his yard as a child, and is turned off by his reindeer jumper. The introduction does not go well and Bridget tries to enjoy the party when she over hears Mr. Darcy saying he could never be interested in a woman who, "smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and dresses like her mother." This one insult changes Bridget's world and she decides to change, tell the truth about who she is, and to get what she wants out of her life.
She decides that in order to make everything about her life clear she will start a diary and keep track of events and thoughts. We learn her weight (136 lbs), how many cigarettes she smokes (42), and how many units of alcohol she drinks (50). Her voice over that has followed us with commentary since the very beginning of the film now turns to a list of things she must do first, like lose 20 pounds, put last nights panties in the laundry, and finally to have better taste in men.
Bridget works at a publishing company for Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), a womanizing pompous jerk. After changing her life, and wardrobe around, she gets his attention and after a series of sexually harassing and flirtatious emails between them, he asks her on a date, but they don't get together until a company book launching party for a book called Kafka's Motorbike. Both Mark Darcy and Daniel are at the party and Bridget can see that they obviously don't like one another. After the party Daniel tells Bridget a story about how Mark Darcy stole his fiancee and that there is bad blood between them, she feels sorry for Daniel and romance ensues. The romance eventually peaks and Daniel takes her on a mini-vacation; she thinks that the relationship could not possibly get any better. Then she finds he is cheating on her with a young skinny American co-worker from the New York office. After a humiliating conversation about why another woman is better for him she decides to find another job. She interviews over and over before finding a place that will hire her and in possibly one of the best scenes in the film she quits her job in publishing and goes off to be a TV reporter.
While Bridget is dealing with all her ups and downs she watches her parents split apart as her mother leaves her father (Jim Broadbent) for another man. As she tries to comfort her father she tries to figure out why her mother is not happy with her father, because the only thing she wants is what she thought her parents had.
By breaking up with Daniel and getting a new job Bridget shows herself that she does not need him and that there may be other men, like Mark Darcy, who are interested in her. They have a series of awkward encounters; he tells her that he likes her just the way she is and gives her an exclusive interview on a big law case he is handling. She finds that she may have been wrong, and maybe a man that she had no interest in a year ago could be the love of her life, too bad he has a girlfriend.
There are a couple of great scenes where Bridget is faced with explaining why she is single and in essence why any woman in her thirties is single. Before the end there is a wonderfully humorous fight between Mark and Daniel that is has you laughing and urging them on at the same time. An inspired performance by Hugh Grant, with the chance to play a seriously flawed and almost unlikable character, I think this is role was perfect for him. Also some wonderful supporting performances by Shirley Henderson, James Callis, and Sally Phillips as Bridget's best friends and "urban family", Jude, Tom, and Shazza, who all truly love her just the way she is.
Inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones's Diary adapted from the book by Helen Fielding, and directed by Sharon Maguire, is seriously funny and does what all romantic comedies should do; show us the funny things that happen to all people, and why we laugh about them in our own lives. Bridget is a woman that we can all admire for her ability to fall down seven times and get up eight, this is a movie that I recommend because you can laugh, cry, and take away a bit of humor from it into a world that sometimes seems to put love on the back burner; until a woman like this shows up to cook some blue soup.