Film Review: BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY (2025): A Darker Look at the Life of Bridget Jones Redeemed by Some Touching Musings on Life
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy Review
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Michael Morris, written by Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Abi Morgan and starring Renee Zellweger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Mila Jankovic, Casper Knopf, Nico Parker, Elena Rivers, Neil Edmond, Sally Phillips, Dolly Wells, Mark Lingwood, Claire Skinner, James Rawlings and Ruth Gibson.
Harsh realities of life sneak up on the characters in the dark and moving new Bridget Jones film, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. One character says she graced the cover of Vanity Fair at one point only to end up on the cover of Good Housekeeping. It’s a road many famous people eventually reach as their careers take them through some highs and lows as they continue to age regardless of how well they do. In director Michael Morris’s new film one will find a reflection of life that is fresh and unique, for the most part, even if some of the major plot points can be rather maddening to watch at times. Renee Zellweger is charming as ever playing the title role yet one feels this could be the last time Zellweger will play this role due to the overall conclusive nature of the picture.
Hugh Grant is back in the movie but he’s playing Daniel Cleaver as a friend to Bridget rather than as a potential lover as Bridget’s kids refer to Daniel as their uncle. Bridget’s husband, Mark (Colin Firth), has passed away which leaves a tremendous void in Bridget’s heart. She doesn’t believe dating again is the right thing to do until some of her friends and colleagues suggest doing it. Bridget’s dad told her to “live her life” while he was in the hospital and Bridget doesn’t want to let him down. Bridget’s two kids she had with Mark are Mabel (a charming Mila Jankovic) and Billy (a super Casper Knopf). When Bridget takes the children to school, she is mistaken as their “granny” in a hysterical moment.
Much of the plot of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy centers around two new men in Bridget’s life: a young, handsome man named Roxster (Leo Woodall) and a kind-hearted instructor at Bridget’s kids’ school, Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor). While the first half focuses on Bridget living her life vicariously through her interaction with the much younger Roxster, the second half of the movie develops the bond between Wallaker and Bridget as the two bond by a campfire in a cute scene. When Bridget first has sex with Roxster, she feels a glow that she hadn’t experienced in a while and talks about her sexual experience with him to an audience she is unaware is present in another funny bit.
There’s Nico Parker as the young babysitter, Chloe, who Bridget employs to watch her kids while she tries to make herself happy even though Bridget misses Mark immensely. Parker adds another notable role to her growing resume as the capable babysitter and the actress has some nice moments interspersed into the picture. However, Emma Thompson, as Bridget’s gynecologist, steals the show. She has to help Bridget when Bridget ends up with stiff lips due to an allergic reaction which could be a nod to the rumors that Zellweger had work done on her face. It’s humorous watching Bridget try to carry on conversations with the affected lips and viewers will be easily amused in this set of scenes.
This is a darker world than the last time we got to have fun with Bridget in Bridget Jones’s Baby. I liked Bridget Jones’s Baby a lot more. This series seems to have jumped from zippy and peppy to more doom and gloom as Roxster ghosts poor Bridget and she ends up desperately texting him thinking they could actually have a serious relationship together. Wallaker is a nicer guy who is closer to Bridget’s age but we all know where this story may have led in a perfect world where people don’t behave foolishly.
Zellweger is great in this role. She makes us feel all the pains, sorrows and passions of Bridget. Hugh Grant finds his character having heart troubles as Daniel, too, is aging in the movie. Aging sucks and this movie reminds us of that fact. It zeroes in on how the kids miss their dad and though Bridget and the kids jump on the bed together in moments of joy and Bridget’s son sings at a concert, there’s a lot of hardships in their lives even with Bridget’s somewhat glamorous job in the entertainment world helping them keep it all together. A sweet scene has the mom and the two kids setting some balloons up into the sky. It’s a beautiful scene in a movie that needs more humor rather than moments of uplifting inspiration. Still, the inspiration is more than welcome being the film doesn’t go for the comic humor that permeated the plots of the previous pictures.
Grant’s role is fairly limited but the actor nevertheless acquits himself admirably here. Ejiofor and Woodall are solid in their parts with Woodall having more chemistry with Zellweger than Ejiofor but never mind. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is a reminder that we’re all getting older with each passing day and we need to embrace the now in order to appreciate what may not be there for us tomorrow. It’s a valid message and a heartfelt one and on that basis, I’m recommending the film.
Rating: 7/10
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