Rating: 
Summary: COMEDY OF THE YEAR!!! v.v. good...
Review: If you think that BJD is just another chick movie, think again: truth is this film is a masterpiece, a great comedy, witty and hilarious, with a brilliant cast.Texas born Renée Zellweger is a perfect Bridget: overweight, obsessed with calories, goofy and with a great british accent. Bridget is a 32 year old single who is desperatly trying to follow her New Year's resolutions: quit smoking, quit drinking, loose weight and, most of all, find true love. Which is not easy! Her mother is trying to make her hook up with Mark Darcy (Firth), a stuck up and apparently rude barrister, while she has a devanstating crush on her super sexy boss, Daniel Cleaver (Grant). The two guys couldn't be more different from each other: Daniel is a charming, humorous, flirting guy, ready to lie and cheat at any given occasion. On the other hand Mark looks serious, aloof, but very sexy, in a stuck up kind of way. And during the movie we learn that first impressions sometimes are very wrong! And so does Bridget. As she gets to know her two suitors better her impressions and feelings change quite a lot. It won't be easy for her to decide between the two of them, but it's a pleasure for everyone to see her getting through her life day by day, with the help of her friends and a lot of vodka. If you have read the book you will find the movie quite different, but you won't be disappointed. Director Sharon McGuire has made a great adaption, full of hilarious gags and incredibly good dialogues. The strenght of Bridget is not just her being utterly funny, but also her being very different from the usual female characters we have seen in other romantic comedies. She's goofy, she drinks too much, she always ends up saying the wrong thing, but she keeps being herself. And eventually ends up finding happiness by being "just as she is".
Rating: 
Summary: couldn't even finish it
Review: I rented this film because of the supposed similarity to Pride and Prejudice. Yes, Jones spouts a few lines like, "it is a truth universally known that. . ." but that's about it. There are a number of moments where jones makes a fool of herself and surprisingly I could care less because she is a totally unlikable character. There is nothing unique or interesting about her. She drinks too much, smokes, and wears the trashiest outfits. I gave up on this film when I realized that aside from a few P&P ripoffs the story is just one disgusting scene after another. If I had read amazon's writeup I'd have scene comparisons to Ally McBeal and that would have warned me away from this movie completely. The only good thing this film does is show what a miserable life people who have no respect for themselves lead. Hugh Grant spends most of the time leering at people, and Firth sort of stands around a lot. This is the only film I've seen with Zwelleger but I will avoid any others with her. Avoid this movie -- if you're overcome by curiosity check it our from your local library or rent it. A waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: it's only a diary....
Review: i must say that i do love watching ms.zellweger on the screen and this film is no exception to the rule. here we have ms.zellweger playing the part of single,thirty something woman with a british accent(ahhhh!!)and once again we are charmed.this film actually made me want to fall in love again and it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it hours after it's over. the cast here is very charming and this film has got be one of the most romantic and witty films i've seen in some time. i have not had the pleasure yet of reading the series for ms.jones but i am sure they are all wonderful if they are remotely close to this british gem. this film just goes to show us all we can be stupid sometimes when we fall in love and we can literally be so blind as to see what we really need. i believe the film actually pays a splendid homage to the romantic films made in early fourties or fifties that we still love to this day. i would recommend this film to anyone who is in love,anyone who has ever been in love,or anyone still in there trying.
Rating: 
Summary: Lightweight but fun
Review: This film is based on the best selling book by Helen Fielding about a 32-year old single British woman's comical romantic adventures. I assume that the book was full of sharp and witty observations that rang true. I have a feeling though, that even though Renee Zellweger does an outstanding acting job in the lead role, the screenplay does not capture that spirit. Ms. Zellweger is a fine actress and the audience can certainly identify with her search for Mr. Right as her biological clock keeps ticking along. Hugh Grant is cast as her boss and lover with an aversion to commitment. Colin Firth is cast as a stuffy barrister who is also interested in Bridget. There are enough twists and turns in the plot to keep the story moving along and some of it is humorous, but just not enough to make this lightweight romantic comedy rise above the ordinary. I, personally, would never have been interested without the draw of the book's reputation and the fact that I am fast becoming a Renee Zellweger fan. She's a delight to watch and her freshness shines in every single role she's ever played. At 97 minutes, the film still seemed too long. But please nderstand that I'm not a fan of romantic comedy as a genre. I like a film to have a little more substance than the ups and downs of a romance that the audience knows is going to work out for the best in the long run anyway. There's a happy ending of course, but so what? Sometimes though, a lightweight movie like this can be fun. So, even though it was a bit too insipid for my personal taste, it can be enjoyed for what it is, some pleasant time that will leave you feeling good. Mildly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Oh Yes!
Review: Unless you are totally allergic to swear words, get this movie. You'll not regret it and you'll find yourself watching it over and over. You don't need to have read the book (but pay attention, please, some "reviewers" didn't get the plot at all) and you don't need to know the characters of Pride & Prejudice either. I was so taken by the entire story that I ended up also buying P&P (also addictive) when I learned that this was the trigger for "Bridget". Rene Zellweger is probably playing the best role of her life (nothing she has done thus far compares to it and she's really good as Bridget), and Hugh Grant is extremely well cast as the Casanova-de-service (this role suits him to a T, one wonders how close it is to reality). But the real "discovery", if you haven't seen Shakespeare in Love or the celebrated Pride & Prejudice, is Colin Firth. He is so convincing as the brooding (but oh so sexy) Darcy. Those eyes will keep every female viewer in need of a daily Darcy-fix.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasant English comedy for the international market
Review: This is a pretty good movie and nothing like my preconceptions. The hype doesn't do it justice, the diary itself is very different in texture to this movie, and the three main actors are cast against type. Serious Firth plays a loveable comedy character, honest Hugh plays a bounder, and American Zellwegger plays an English woman. That they all succeed is tribute to their acting abilities as well as the first time director Sharon Maguire.The DVD features a pretty good commentary from her although her voice grates after a while and it would have benefited from a second voice as she leaves lots of gaps. The commentary is made for the American version of the film, but used on both the U.S. and British discs, so it does not tie up in one or two places with what we see on screen. The extras include a large number of deleted scenes, any of which could have stayed in the film, but which Maguire wisely decided to cut for reasons of timing. I think she was right. The film is 1 hour 31 minutes including credits and to have been any longer would have dragged it out. The London scenery looks wonderful, and there are some nice crane shots of London and Bridget's parents' snow-covered village. The jokes in the script mostly hit the mark, and just the right amount of 'diary' is included to warrant the title. There is a great soundtrack, especially in the new songs from Robbie Williams, Gabrielle and Shelby Lynne. I confess to being a little mystified by the suggestion that Zellwegger had piled on weight to play the role as she looks perfectly normal to me, and not at all unattractive. I suspect it's a girl thing! The one complaint I have is that we seem to be living in a part of London where there has been no immigration in the last forty years and where only people from the upper-middle classes live. What a curious impression the Americans must get of us!
Rating:
Summary: Fun and funny
Review: (...) I enjoyed it tremendously, especially on DVD. Colin Firth reanimates an updated edition of the stuffy Mr. Darcy character that he so magnetically portrayed in Pride and Prejudice. There is something so entrancing in the way he engages the audience with those intense brown eyes. Renee Z. is really cute and believable as Bridget Jones. She has the pale skin and cheeky wholesomeness often seen in British actors even though Renee is an American. Her considerable, innate personal charm adds to a role that, in the hands of a less gifted actor, may have been difficult to pull off. Hugh Grant is, refreshingly, quite thoroughly smarmy in his role as the boyfriend who is basically a jerk. I always enjoy him as an actor, and this film adds a new dimension to his acting chops. His recital of that really vulgar poem while sitting in the boat on the lake where Firth and his companion are also boating and trying to discuss legal matters in their formal and so correct manner is hilarious. They overhear the recital and watch as Grant straddles the two boats in his attempt to join Bridget in hers and when Grant falls into the water it is a real "gotcha" on film. It was embarrasing, funny and you can tell that the actors were having a ball doing that scene. This is a fun movie for those times when one needs a reminder about relationships and how they impact one's life and one's mood, good, bad or indifferent. As Colin Firth portrays in this story, at times it is hip to be square. A cool film.
Rating: 
Summary: A Diary is not a Movie.
Review: Umpteenth update of a Jane Austen story, *Pride and Prejudice* this time (again). The prime change is that the heroine, rather than being cool-headed and smart a la Elizabeth Bennet in Austen's novel, has become a chain-smoking, alcoholic, plump, blond ditz. The Declension of Woman, if you will. If I were female, I suppose I'd be ticked off about it. At any rate, I suspect the particular source material for this movie is the source of its particular problems: a series of made-up diary entries purporting to be a "novel" by someone named Helen Fielding. Having glanced through this book, I'm puzzled that someone attempted to make a movie of it. The book seems to be a series of profane comments about the War Between the Sexes, as well as tiresomely repetitive bon mots about the self-help craze. If this is your cup of tea, so to speak, fine -- just don't be surprised if the screenwriters are stuck with a paucity of narrative incidents. The funniest scene in this "comedy" film is the unglamorous fight between Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. This was spot on -- most bar fights I've seen have looked exactly like this . . . i.e., two idiots fighting who don't know how to fight. But why is there even a rivalry in the first place? From the movie's point of view, Colin Firth is handsomer, richer, and doesn't cheat on his women. *Bridget Jones's Diary* is, to summarily put it, mired in a lack of genuine conflict. The movie merely marks time, waiting for Bridget to get her pudgy clutches on Mark . . . not exactly thrilling cinema, here. The compensation for all this is Renee Zellweger as the heroine. She certainly makes the whole chain-smoking, boozy, dippy blond routine a totally winning combo. An expert comedienne, Zellweger pulls out all the stops to win our rooting affection, and succeeds brilliantly (but, of course, she had us at "Hello"). However, a charming actress does not a movie make.
Rating: 
Summary: Peek into her diary
Review: The concept intrigues you. Peek into a young, single girl's diary and learn all her innermost thoughts. Great concept. However, the transition from book to movie does leave a bit to be desired. It can't be helped. Reading someone's diary just doesn't compare with watching someone's diary. Renee Zellwegger pulled off her english accent and became Bridget Jones. Hugh Grant as a cad? It's about time.
Rating:
Summary: Colin Firth: a good argument for human cloning
Review: OK, the book does have it over the film script. And yes, the movie does not explain Bridget's appeal to Mr. Darcy - she comes off as much more intelligent and competent in the book. In the movie, I was wondering why in the world he liked her "just the way she is," when she seems so inept. Perhaps he liked her in a sexy cocktail dress? Or senses someone as socially inept as himself? Hard to say, they could have done that a little better. BUT...all is forgiven with the casting of Colin Firth. Looking trimmer and sexier (if that is possible) than he did in Pride and Prejudice, you actually get to see his charming smile in the famous blue soup dinner scene - I was a goner after that. Having worked for an English firm for many years, I thought Renee Z's accent was great. I know this type of girl very well, and the film did a great job capturing the whole English office scene (where attractive women are often treated like complete idiots!). Looking forward to the sequel, and hoping to see many more films starring Mr. Firth, as perhaps by now Hollywood producers have got it through their thick heads that women find him totally irresistable.
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