Bridget Jones's Diary with Amy Solomon

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the be Dol cast, The questions asked if movies
have women in them, are all their discussions just boyfriends
and husbands, or do they have individualism? The patriarchy? Zef
in best start changing it with the bel cast. Hey, Caitlin, yes, Jamie,
am I okay, this is not going to pass the
backdel test. But am I completely alone in having a

(00:25):
lifelong struggle with knowing the difference of Colin being on
screen and Hugh being on screen? Is that something you've
ever Have you ever been like, oh, yeah, it was
Colin Firth or it was huge, because it's usually one
or the other, but when it's both, I don't even
know if my notes make a shred of sense. I

(00:46):
have not had this problem. I know that they're both
like stuffy english men, but they look different enough to
me that I can very easily tell them apart their
hair is different and their eye color is different, and
they're faces are so different, face structures different. But they're
the same guy though, you know, like they're the same guy.

(01:07):
Like they've both won awards, they've both pivoted to drama,
they've both they both say cute little things, and it's like,
I guess the difference is what, like, Hugh Grant is
horny ar like that Hugh Grant, he's got more charmed,
like raw charmed to him, whereas like Colin Firth tends
to be more like stoic and awkward. I feel like
it's just like that. I don't know the difference between them,

(01:30):
and I refused to learn. I think that like Hugh
Grant is I mean, if we're like in a death match.
I hate to turn men against men, but if we're
in a death match, I guess I would probably choose
Hugh Grant to survive. Well, he was the villain in
Paddington too, so he's a part of the Paddington extended
universe and therefore cree and it's like, what is Colin

(01:50):
Firth three? I mean Colin Firth is bringing Oh no,
what if I'm wrong? Colin Firth is in What a
Girl Wants? Is that right? Yes, that's him, not Hugh Grant.
See it's hard well because I haven't really seen that movie.
Um here's a fun fact. Everyone. Colin Firth was originally
cast to be the voice of Paddington, but then they

(02:12):
thought that he just didn't sound quite right, so they
had to recast him. They're like, he's too similar to
Huge Grant. People get confused. It's there to me, they're
different flavors of the same exact person. Like if you
if you have like a little like a little volume,
if you turn the volume down, you get calling first.
I also get, and then if you bring Colin Farrell,

(02:35):
you're like, oh my god, another like brunette European man
that I'm just like, I couldn't pick out of a lineup.
I know that moms know the difference, but I just
this is their names confused because they're both calling f
and then I get, yeah, I get Hugh Jackman and
Hugh Grant. Not that the people confused, but I accidentally
call I switched their names around. Hugh Jackman. Has I guess, yeah,

(02:58):
Hugh Jackman and and Hugh Grant. I mean they both
kind of have a theater kid energy. But it's like again,
it's like Hugh Grant the volumes turned down a little bit.
Then Hugh Jackman, it's like at a forty, you know,
Hugh Jackman. Sometimes I'm like relaxed, but then other times
I love it. I don't why are we talking about
We're talking about welcome to the Bechtel Cast. This is

(03:19):
not what it's normally like. I just I just want
to like, I'm feeling excited but insecure going into this
episode because I know there's a point in my notes
on this movie where I realized I had the two
character names mixed up and that I didn't know which
one was. I went through whole scenes of Colin Firth

(03:39):
being like, anyways, Hugh Grant, like, it's just it's hard
for me. I know that there's going to be a
bunch of people who are like, how could you not
tell the difference between I don't know the difference between men?
And that's feminism. I'll do my best to guide you
through this. Jamie, thank you. Welcome to the Bechtel Cast. Um.
You know if this is your first episode, that funny.

(04:01):
Uh yeah. So our show is the podcast where we
usually condemn the talking about men. But it's kind of
a loophole. If you're like, who are these people? True,
We're like exactly, um, But in any case, so the

(04:21):
Bechtel Cast is our show where we examine movies through
an intersectional feminist lens, using the Bechtel test as a
jumping off point, and of course That is a media
metric created by queer cartoonist Alison Bechtel. Our rendition of
the test requires that two people of any marginalized gender
have names speak to each other about something other than

(04:44):
a man for at least a two line exchange of dialogue.
Most movies can't get you there, Nor was the first
four minutes of this episode getting listen, it does happen,
It does happen. I just was. I'm so nerv us.
I know it's going to happen at least once where
I'm like, Also, naming them Daniel and Mark does not

(05:05):
help me, Like, I'm just like a great the two
most generic British guy names to describe the two most
generous British guy actor. Like, this is just it's not
going to be good. However, we have so today we're
talking about Bridget jones diary. It's been a popular request
really since the show has existed. It's, you know, kind

(05:27):
of an early auts rom com staple, and you know,
it took us five years, but here we are, and
I'm so excited for our guest today. Yes, she is
a TV producer and her book Notes from the Bathroom
Line comes out March sixteen. It's Amy Solomon. Hello, thank you,

(05:48):
this is so flun Sorry for really dragging out that intro.
I loved it. I loved every second of it. Welcome,
thank you for bringing this movie. What is your What
is your history with Bridget Jones? I guess this we're
covering the first movie, but in general with the cannon

(06:09):
of Bridget Jones. Um. I I don't know that I
had ever seen this. I do think i'd seen parts
because some some scenes I was like, oh okay, But
I guess I think my history is just that my
mom is so horny for these guys, like just oh

(06:30):
my god, these are her guys. Moms know the difference.
I called her last night and said we were talking
about it today and made her. I was like, ultimately,
if you had to pick Colin Firth or Hugh Grant,
she couldn't do it. She got all flustered. Oh my gosh.
I kind of wonder if we were like, who are
like two random British guys that we would do this
for today, because it's like, who would like my child

(06:53):
be like, what is the difference between these men? It
would be like Robert Pattinson and some mother guy where
I'm a big fan of Nicholas Holt, so he would
be in my top two. Dude, if you put Robert
Pattinson and Nicholas Holt on screen, we would be like
frothing to the ends of the earth and are and

(07:14):
like the next generation could be like, Um, I don't
I see two identical men? You know? Is this the
only you know what I was? I meant to look
this up? Is this the only movie they've ever been
in together? Colin and Hugh they were in love actually together? Okay,
they're both in the Bridget Jones sequel Edge of Reason. Um,

(07:36):
there's got to be sorry if I'm being like unreasonable here,
I'm just like it was. It really was like so
confusing to me, So I think what the movie should
be this Bridget Jones has to choose between Alfred Molina
and Paddington and then at the end they're like, let's

(07:58):
be Polly beautiful a house together. That would be so nice.
I'm also seeing that Hugh Grant and Colin Firth were
possibly born the same week. It says, oh, I looked
this up. It's the day A day apart. This was
in the IMDb trivia. There's something like planet wise, going like,

(08:19):
maybe it has nothing to do with looks and it's
just a planetary thing going on, because they just give
you the same spiritual vibe. They both they both recently
turned sixty. Congrats to them. I honestly, you know, if
I would, absolutely, you know, have a what is it?
What's British dalliance with Hugh Grant? You prefer I'm a Colin.

(08:41):
I prefer Colinn. See. I think I'm a hue. See
I've read too much about he doesn't seem like the
greatest guy. Oh no, I believe that it's called I
could see. I mean again, I guess I'm just judging
on strictly their movie characters. I'm like, oh, Colin Firth
is probably a family man and Hugh Grant is probably not.

(09:04):
I would highly recommend a foray into the Hugh Grant
personal life Wikipedia. It is unbelievable. Caitlin, Also, I am
as devoted to the Paddington universe as you are. Maybe
not as devoted because you're the queen of it. Thank
you so much, But in that way, I'm a huge girl.
But now that I didn't know that about Colin auditioning

(09:26):
for Paddington's voice. Yeah. He in fact, not only did
he audition, I think they recorded basically all of Paddington's
dialogue until they like realized it just wasn't going to
really work out with just the way his voice sounded
was going to be too confusing. To Jamie, this is sorry.
I meantime, I was like, I'm going to let the

(09:47):
girls talk about Paddington's I'm in Hugh Grant's personal life
section on Wikipedia, and it is so long. I will
summarize it for you that basically he had these two
wives or or like intense relationships where he basically flip
flopped between them and would have a baby with one
and then a baby with the other, and then to

(10:09):
marry the one, and it's unbelievable. It's too much to
fully get into here, but I highly recommend that. Also,
his name is Hugh John Mungo Grant. His second middle
name is Mungo, which is very British to me, very
oh yeah, like Mungo Jerry from Cats. That was exactly
what I thought it. Why aren't Colin Firth and Hugh

(10:33):
Grant in the movie Cats huge missed opportunity? If you
ask me, they would be like unique, I mean, everyone's
bad in that movie, but they would be like uniquely
bad in a way that would be really fun. I
feel like Hugh gret could probably almost pull it off.
Colin Firth, I don't know. I don't know, he might.
He would be like Pierce Browsnan trying to sing in

(10:55):
Mamma Mia. Pierce Brosny is iconic in Mamma Mia because
I feel like Pierce Browsney knows in Mamma Mia that
he cannot haul a note, but he's just like karaoke
committing it at twelve. It's amazing how many of those
movies have you guys done. We've just done the first one.
Although I feel like there's now that I've seen Mamma Mia,
here we go again. I feel like there is a

(11:17):
fair amount of discourse at Yeah, and we love to
cover a share a movie always always a bonus and
it's the superior Mama me a movie because Fernando is present, true, true,
thank you. Anyway, should we talk about the actual movie
Bridget Jones Diary? Yes? Sorry, Caitlin, what is your history

(11:37):
with Bridget Um? I saw it like right after it
came out, which was late or no, I guess mid
two one. The only thing I remembered about the actual
like plot of the movie was the end when Colin
Firth sees the diary, sees all the like stuff she

(11:57):
wrote in it about how she hates him, and then
he leaves. Then he's like, just kidding, I went out
to buy you a new diary. And that's the only
thing I remembered. Isn't that the first time we see
the diary? Um, I think you see like little glimpses
of it throughout. But I felt like at the very
end of the movie is the first time she sits

(12:18):
down and like writes it her diary. It's called Bridget Jones, right,
I feel like we get most of the diary is
like a d R voiceover. Yeah, sorry, what am I?
I'm fired from Hollywood? I have no no a d
R far the more technical term. Also, we are recording

(12:39):
at one PM. But I did pour some Pino griggio
into a cup because I'm like, we're talking about Bridget Jones.
It's one pm on a Monday, and yet here we are.
You know, we've been in quarantine. Wait. One more thing
I learned in the trivia online was that British people
blamed they blamed Bridget Jones sales of chardonnay going down.

(13:03):
Whoa because she was like this sad Zack who, Well,
we need to get into this because quote unquote sad
Zack who like chardinary and then the sales went down
in the years after the movie came out. That's really funny.
And also I don't know, like I know that movies
influids sales, but I feel like usually it's an overstatement

(13:23):
where they're like et saved Reese's pieces, and like, first
of all, I don't care, and second of all, it
sounds like an overstatement. Um, Bridget, It's just like how
millennials are killing the diamond industry, like Bridget Jones is
killing the chardonnay industry. It was like, leave her alone.
My whole thing with this movie is leave Bridget Jones alone.

(13:44):
Um My, um, what's your history? My history is I
think pretty close to Amy's. Like I think I've seen
this movie, but also I'm not totally sure that I've
seen this movie. I definitely cultural osmosis, I knew what happen,
but I also like going in, I'm like, I don't
remember if she ends up with anyone at the end.
I don't remember kind of where it. I don't I'm

(14:06):
not sure, but I know that I've taken a lot
of Bridget genes and through cultural osmosis, and I have
a lot more complicated thoughts on the movie and like
the property in general than I thought I was, So
I'm excited to talk about it. Yeah, well let's do that,
shall we. Okay, So here's the recap. Bridget Jones, who,

(14:30):
of course is Renee's Salwager, who is not British, but
she does. And I'm no expert by any means, but
I think she does a convincing enough English accent that
I was like, wait a minute, is Renee Sellwager one
of those like British actors who just always gets cast
in American roles And I just didn't know this about her,
and I like looked it up and she is, in

(14:52):
fact American, but I was like, doing a pretty good job.
I guess people were really mad when she got cast
because it was such an iconic British gal from the books,
but then people had to admit she really pulled it off,
actually got nominated for an Oscar. I know, it's so
bizarre that we're so cool with British actors doing American accents,

(15:14):
but it's the second American actor as a British accent.
Were like, that is unbelievable. It's like, no offense, England,
we have more actors, our country is bigger, so make
space for random American white girls doing British accents that
are pretty convincing. I thought, yeah, I was Genuinely I

(15:36):
assumed the same thing Kalin, that she was British but
played American often, just like I mean, god, I feel
like every popular American actress is secretly Australian. So like
whatever I thought it was, really I was really impressed.
And then I looked up on that horrible website Cora
dot com, where it's like basically Yahoo answers too, and

(15:59):
I was like, do people like Renee Zellwigger's accent and
Britet Jones And generally yes, some some British people say
that it's a bit too posh for a middle class person,
but then the others will excuse the fact that she's
clearly trying to like change, She's trying to, like, you know,
impress people and act wealthier than she is, so maybe

(16:21):
a sense right, she's giving such a nuanced performance. Why
didn't she get the oscar for bridget Jobs read that
she also did the accent between takes, like, just on,
since you stayed in character, which I have mixed feelings about.
Really well, just I totally respect it to stay into it.

(16:42):
I think that makes a lot of sense. But when
you are on a set and someone's doing that, it's like, Okay,
let's just talk normally. You know. I, well, I guess
putting myself in her shoes, I'd be so afraid that
I would lose it. Advice stop, that's my thing. I'd
be like, I have to stay in it. What if
it goes away? I also love when women even go
two percent method, because men get away with the weirdest

(17:04):
ship totally, and then the second of woman does something weird,
they're like, she's difficult. On Barry, we we have all
those guys who play the Chechens, and they were kind
of during the pilot deciding like, are we going to
stay in this accent between scenes? And Bill Hayter was
kind of like, no, but that's also like it's pretty.

(17:29):
They're doing a pretty you know, no ho Hank is
a pretty goofy character, so it's it's a lot, but
yeah he's a but yeah, I respect Renee for staying
in it. For sure. I would be afraid that Hugh
Grant would make fun of me. He seems like the
type that would be like, okay, knock it off, but
yeah respect um okay. So Bridget Jones has been single

(17:52):
for thirty two years, which I guess is the movie's
way of saying that she's thirty two years old. Yes, well,
when you're a maybe you are a single. It's true
her mom or her mom is always trying to set
her up with someone, and this year, at a holiday party,

(18:14):
her mother tries to set her up with Mark Darcy
that's Colin Firth and uh, she's actually interested in him,
but he is not interested in her, and she overhears
him saying some very mean things about her, and she
realizes that if she doesn't make some changes soon, she's
gonna be alone forever or end up like Glenn Close

(18:37):
in Fatal Attraction, which I love I have a whole
but like I love that you see Bridget Jones like
part of her insecurity is stemming from the media she's consuming,
Like if only she could have listened to the bed plcast.
I know, especially because in our episode on Fatal Attraction

(18:57):
we talk about what a like societal and cultural impact
that movie had, and like everyone who saw it was like,
oh my gosh, women are so unstable and they're gonna
kill me. I very rarely see like a had her
own woman on screen and be like I could save her.
But that's how I feel about Bridget Jones. I was like,

(19:19):
I wish we could just hang out with her and
her friends twenty years ago, right. Um. So then in
her diary, which she is in theory writing in throughout
the movie, which we mostly get through like her voiceover narration,
she makes a list of what she wants to accomplish,
which is to lose weight, to find a nice boyfriend,

(19:42):
and to stop fantasizing about her boss, Daniel Cleaver and
that is Hugh Grant. And then so we see her
at work she has a job in publishing. We also
meet her friends. Jude Shahza is that her name? I
guess I was curious about Shaw's question mark. She seemed fun,

(20:06):
but she only but she only shows up to say fuck.
So she says fun fun fun funck um and then
Tom that's like their friend group. So then Bridget starts
flirting with Daniel at work, and by that I mean
her boss begins to sexually harass her in the workplace email. Yeah.

(20:28):
I was like, wow, MSN email representation. My mom feels
so seen right now. Um. I mean there's so much
bushemy test in this movie of like, if Steve Bushemy
is your boss sending this email? Um, are we okay
with it? No? We're not. Seriously ah So, then the
following night is this big launch event for their publishing

(20:52):
company's new book, Kafka's Motorbike. Any Funny, Any funny? Um?
And she's like, Okay, I'm gonna go there. I'm gonna
be fabulous, but I'm going to ignore Daniel because she's
playing hard to get. And then who shows up to
this event but Mark Darcy and also the real Salomon

(21:15):
Rushdie playing I did not realize that. That's why I
like it. It's pretty amazing. There's also I guess in
that scene there's there's like a whole pride and prejudice
thing that we can talk about in a bit about this,
But I guess that Helen Fielding, who are like is

(21:37):
Bridget Jones and wrote Bridget Jones really loved the Pride
and Prejudice mini series that starred Colin Firth, and I
guess whoever the other guy in that series is appears
in the movie in a small role at several times,
and she was like just a huge Pride and Prejudice
mini series stand. So they're all over the place. It's

(21:58):
all connected. The real Id and Prejudice heads love that
mini series. Yeah, that's they're big, like over the movies
or any adaptation. That's their thing. I should watch it.
Sometimes I'm like, I'm a basic. I've seen the Kia
Knightley one and I'm like cool and then I was
strapped to a table and forced to read it in
ninth grade. But other than that, well, isn't isn't Hugh

(22:22):
Grant in Sense and Sensibility like the other big Austin
like major motion picture adaptation. Oh, Gemma, Gemma Jones is
also in it? Who plays bridgets mom? Yeah, there's like
so much did sentence? Yeah, sentence Sensibility would have come
out before this. Yeah. I think I'm pretty sure that

(22:43):
Helen Fielding like was really deliberately being like anyone who's
been in a Jane Austen adaptation. Free for all welcome.
It is more of a I mean, we can get
into this, but it's more of a like there's slight
homages to pride prejudice, it's not really that, it's not
I don't know, I don't find that it's really based
on it. Yeah. Besides, there's a character named Darcy and

(23:05):
blah blah blah. Yeah. I read like the list of
like direct references, but they are all kind of more
like homage e than actual plot like adaptation. Yeah. Anyway,
so Mark Darcy is at this book event and you
can tell that he's like, hm, wait a minute, maybe
there is something to this Bridget Jones. But then Hugh

(23:28):
Grant swoops in and takes her out to dinner, and
it turns out that he and Colin Firth used to
be good friends. Sorry, I am going to switch between
their character names and the actor's names. Um I will,
it won't help. But it turns out that used to
be good friends until according to Daniel A K. Hugh

(23:52):
Grant Mark a K. Colin Firth had an affair with
Daniel Cleaver's fiance. Then Bridget and Daniel kiss, they have sex,
they become an item. Um, but then he starts to
get a bit dodgy and he has to bail on

(24:12):
this like family friends party that they were supposed to
go to. But you'll never guess who is at the
party who. It's Mark Darcy and he's also we've seen
him with this woman, Natasha, who is a colleague of his.
They're both lawyers or barristers, which I guess is a lawyer.

(24:34):
I don't, I don't, I don't know. Such a good word.
It's really good. And then when you find out whether
it actually means, you're like, oh, but anyway, So this
Natasha woman is with him and she likes him, but
I was getting confused as to like whether or not
they were ever romantically involved at any point in this movie.

(24:57):
Very confusing. There's right, okay, at that party earlier, she
says something to the effect of like I'm working on it. Yeah,
like she's And then at the end, Colin First's dad
is like, maybe she'll be our daughter in law, and
it's like, does that mean they're together? I think they
are like supposed to be almost engaged, if not engaged.

(25:17):
The other thing that confused me in this movie is
the other woman for Booth Hugh Grant and Colin Firth
part look really similar, and so like I had to
I don't usually when I'm prepping for rom com episodes,
I don't usually need to watch the movie twice. But
so many of the key players in this movie have

(25:40):
the same haircut that I was like, wait a second,
because there's like Lisa Lisa, and then there's Natasha, and
they have the same two thousand one hairt Yes, yeah,
I know, which can be easily solved by putting a
wig on one of them. Like, no one on the
set was like, the two women have the same hair,

(26:02):
like it's it's so confusing, so confusing. This is also
what happens when there are just too many white people
in a movie. Problem easily solved by diversifying your cast
even a little, like make your movie better and help
the audience. England is a diverse place. It's just yeah, yeah,

(26:23):
but yes, the two the two the two other women
have the same hair and so I was also confused
about what was going on there. But I think that
by the end, at the beginning, she's working on it.
By the end, they're engaged, and I'm assuming that there's
some like cut scenes or something, because it's really right
skip over like the developing of their relationship quite a bit.

(26:45):
They're at least in a relationship enough that they're like
in a canoe together, which is kind of intimate, right,
but Bridget and Bridget and Hugh Grant or in separate canoes.
That's how you know it's not gonna last true. And
in that scene he makes a Titanic reference because he says,
I'm King of the World. Amazing, and we're like, wow,

(27:10):
he is a keeper, but I mean to tie everything
back together again. In Love actually another movie that both
of those actors are in. We see, oh no, it's
not calling Firth. It's Liam Neeson. Never mind, it's Liam
Neeson who's watching Titanic with his like stepson, And for
a second I thought it was calling Firth. But that

(27:30):
is not who that is anyway. Too many old white guys, Okay.
So Bridget goes back to London and discovers that Daniel
is cheating on her with this younger woman from like
the New York office of their publishing company, and not

(27:51):
only that, they are engaged. So then Bridget tries to
get her life together. She tells Daniel off, she quits
her job, she gets a new job in television at
a new station, um which doesn't seem to be any
better than her old job because her new boss also
sexually harasses her. I know, I was like, god, this
is like yikes. There are elements of this story where

(28:13):
you're like, oh, that's so depressing, but also like reflective
of life. It's like, oh, what fresh hell, I'm going
to career change because my first boss was making my
life impossible and now I'm going to go to a
new career or my life will be impossible. But in
a different way. I know it's it's not the most optimistic.

(28:38):
So then she goes to a dinner party where Mark
Darcy just happens to be and he's everywhere, and which,
like this movie, is Colin first character either very coincidentally
being in the same place as Bridget Jones or deliberately
showing up unannounced to where she is. I guess I would.

(29:03):
I feel like, okay, if we did like a full
investigative thing into like Colin firth entrance scenes, I feel
like that's something you see a lot of him being
like oh hello, you know, like uh huh, he knows
you're there first. He's like, I guess it's not even
a scene entrance because he's just he's been there. You're
suddenly there with him. He's been and then he just
like kind of turns around and he's like, OI, I

(29:26):
feel like a cross genres. This is pretty common. Well.
I took it upon myself to watch both sequels to
this movie briefly ever know um, and the same thing
keeps happening with his character in particular throughout and but
also like it happens also with Hugh Grant more and more,

(29:48):
like it's just I mean, I do think that there
is I mean we've we've kind of talked about this before,
like the whatever, how it's supposed to seem inherently romantic
when ah, when a man shows up unannounced without checking
in about how you feel first, because Hugh Grant's character
does it in this movie too. He shows up at
her house assuming that she's alone on her birthday and

(30:08):
then it's like, oh, I got my face. I guess
that you're you have a life, and I just never
considered that before. Also, she's had this she for all
that is very sad how they make her out life
out to be. She has a great group of pals,
she has a support system, like totally people are I'm

(30:29):
just like, I just wish Bridget Jones had someone in
her life that was like, you're great, relax, like it's
all good. You're you're a normal person and you're figuring
it out. Stop why are you? Why are these identical
men yelling at you all the time? They're both so terrible.
I have a hole will get into why all the
reasons that they're both such tracks like different flavors of toxic. Okay,

(30:55):
So Mark Darcy is at this like dinner party with
a bunch of other couples, and this is the scene
where he's like, Okay, Bridget, I know I've been like
really mean to you up until this point, but I
just want you to know that I actually like you
very much, and I like you just the way you are.
And she's very taken aback and confused by this also

(31:17):
because she's like, but I hate him. I think this
is the part that and I guess because I am
admittedly not a Jane austen Head. So Jane austen Heads
sound off in the comments that I'm totally off faith here,
but it's this plot point that I feel like is
especially Jane austen E and that it feels like something
that is weird to be happening in this century where

(31:39):
I like, I feel like there's a lot of like
female protagonists written by women in the eighteen hundreds who
like create emotional intimacy, but it's still in a pretty
toxic way with a pretty toxic person. I'm thinking of
like Pride and Prejudice and Jane Air of like, oh, like,
this guy has been nothing but cruel to me, but

(32:00):
he's only cruel because of his own ship, So I
guess I forgive him. I feel like that's like a
common thing. And then Bridget Jones like, I don't know,
I kind of is expecting, like Bridget Jones like the
writing to comment on it a little more, but it
kind of just happens, right, because well, like the one
centuries version of that is like men nagging women directly

(32:22):
to their face as a flirtation tactic, but not like
just like it's very old fashioned nagging that Colin Firth
is doing a right. He doesn't really ever speak to
her on this till this scene, right, he just kind
of glares at her and says something very awful about
her to his mom at that party in the beginning, right,

(32:42):
So how does he when he says as you are,
and also he like insults her forty times and then
he's like, but all these negative qualities that I just
made you feel bad about is why you're not like
the other girls. And you're just like, oh gosh, I
want more for her. It makes my head hurt. Bridget's great.

(33:04):
She should just she should just get a cat and
you know, live her best single life. Keep watching Frasier.
Oh god, I that was another. I was like, wow,
feeling lonely and turning on Frasier energy. Been there, been there.
There's so many elements. I mean, we'll get into it more,

(33:24):
but like, there's so many elements of Bridget that I
really love. And I feel like it's like you don't
often get to see women personally and privately dealing with
their insecurities, even though a lot of their insecurities come
from a very toxic place. But it's like Bridget doesn't
really put other people down very much. She's just really

(33:45):
hard on herself, and there that I don't know. There
are moments in the movie where I was like, oh,
that's she's like, she's so wrong. But I also felt
the exact same way at different points about like my
body or a bad relationship, or I just that the
plot went differently. I don't know. I love Bridget and
the plot is a disaster. Yeah, I don't know that

(34:05):
the that the movie thinks she's wrong about those things,
right right right Bridget? Um? Okay, So after he professes
his feelings for her, she runs into him again when
she's covering this um kind of high profile court case
for her work, and he's he's a barrister defending the

(34:31):
people in this case, and he helps her get an
exclusive interview with them, and then she cooks a birthday
feast for her friends, which is like make them cook
for you if it's your birthday anyway. Um, but guess
who shows up at her door unannounced? It's Mark Darcy.

(34:52):
And guess who else shows up at her door during
this dinner unannounced. It's Daniel Cleaver and they both want
to is Bridget. So what happens next is they have
a fist fight in the street that lasts for the
next three minutes of screen time. It's really long, so long.

(35:13):
I do like the scene where Tom runs into the
restaurant and it's like there's that was fun. So Mark
wins the fight, but Bridget is not impressed with him
nor with Daniel, so she kind of goes off, and
then she spends the holidays with her mom and dad,

(35:36):
who are headed to Mark Darcy's families like holiday lunch
or something like that, and bridgets like, I'm not going.
But then her mom was like, by the way, it
wasn't Mark who had an affair with Daniel's fiance. It
was Daniel who had an affair with Marks his wife.
So then bridgets like, oh my god, I had it

(35:58):
all wrong. So she drives like a bat out of
hell marks this. I'm like, even if that is all true, Bridget,
you were still his second choice, Like what are you doing?
And that does not redeem him for any of the
other stuff. Having experienced pain does not mean that you

(36:21):
can just be a fucking asshole to anyone you're romantically
interested in until you die. He's like forty Oh my god, sorry, okay.
So then so at this little luncheon or whatever, she
professes her feelings for Mark Darcy, but then his father

(36:42):
announces that Mark is moving to New York and that
Natasha is going with him, and that they are like,
now betrothed. So he goes to New York for a bit,
and then Bridget is all sad and then her friends
are like, hey, we're going to take you to Paris.
But right is there lead thing who shows up again,

(37:03):
but Mark Darcy. Right when she's about to go on
vacation to Paris. It's like, screw him, go to Paris,
but she decides to stay behind and she's like, okay,
let's hang out. But then he sees her diary in
which she has written about how awful he is and

(37:25):
how much she hates him. So then he leaves. Bridget
goes running after him in her underwear in the snow.
This scene, I was like, oh, I've seen this in
a million clip compilations, and I mean, listen. Rene Salwagar
plays the hell out of it. It's fun. The plot

(37:46):
point itself not great, Rene's Salwager's performance in the moment,
I have no choice but to enjoy it. Sure, And
she finally catches up with him, and she's like, oh
my god, I'm so sor but he's like, no, it's fine.
I was just buying you a new diary that doesn't

(38:07):
contain all manner of vitriol directed at me specifically so
that you have a fresh start with me, and then
they kiss and that is how the movie and beautiful
no notes, Let's take a quick break and we will

(38:28):
come back to discuss, and we're back. Um. I feel like, Okay,
there's so much to talk about. But I feel like,
because all the men in this movie get to lie, lie, lie,
lie lie and experience kind of really no significant consequence

(38:50):
for it, that a better ending is at the end.
Rene Zellweger says, I'm lying, I'm from Texas and she's
the big twist and she's not even British. And then
all the men need to deal with the fact that
this is the first time conceivably they they're being deceived.
No man has ever deceived in this film, and it's like,

(39:15):
on what ground there, where? Where? Where shall we start? Well?
I think the very nature the big issue with the
movie is she is a fresh faced, thirty two year
old Rene's Eltwigger is the loveliest, most beautiful little gal,
and the central tenet of the movie is she is

(39:37):
a fat, fat, sad sack. I can't even say it
because it's so preposterous. She do you read she read
she gained twenty five pounds for this Yeah she is skinny, yes, correct,
It's so there. I mean, the fat phobia in this
movie is so rampant, and I feel like it speaks

(39:59):
to I mean, it's like it's frustrating because it's like
you can't even really behold it to this movie specifically
because that is so early two thousands and nineties culture
is it's all fat shaming women. I also feel like
they're there's this whole There's a YouTube channel that I
really love called be kind Rewind that has like a

(40:19):
whole she has a whole video about how when like
you know, Western beauty standard very thin Hollywood actresses put
on weight or alter their appearance in some way, they
are more likely to be rewarded for their performance. And
it's like, what a risk for you to have a
normal woman's body, and like what an amazing thing. And

(40:41):
I feel like Renee Zellweger, I don't know, it's so
hard because it's like I really love Renee Zellweger's performance
in this movie. I think she is like doing an
amazing job, but it is like, I don't know, it's
so it's icky that like a woman having a very
normal body is considered like brave in any way, and

(41:04):
that it's like, oh, we need to reward this like
actress for looking normal, And then the whole character, like
you're saying, Amy is like Bridget, I don't know, it's
it's it's so hard because it's like you can see
Bridget so many different ways, Like I understand why she
was a popular character because women are so encouraged to

(41:26):
be like really hard on themselves and like hate their bodies,
and I think that the only way out of their
life as it is is to like be in a relationship,
and Bridget is like navigating that and that's interesting to see.
But then, in the same way, like you're saying earlier, Amy,
it's like the movie seems to think that all of
her insecurities and all these like toxic thoughts that she

(41:49):
has about herself are correct, and it's like, uh, I
don't know. And then I mean, I think another reason
this movie was such a hit and this character was
already so popular before the movie came out, and that
she's I mean, she's just a relatable rom calm heroine

(42:09):
in the sense that like and like she's actually relatable too,
because I feel like a lot of romcom heroines that
you're supposed to be really like relating to, you're like, um,
this is Jennifer Garner who works at a museum, Like
I don't know this woman, or it's like, oh, Sandra
Bullock tripped and I tripped sometimes, so therefore and I'm

(42:30):
in the CIA. Like this one's like, oh, she's a
kind of bumbling, kind of sad gal who has a
real job, seem she has vices, you know, she drinks
and she smokes cigarettes, and she she's not good at
public speaking, and she kind of makes a fool of

(42:51):
herself sometimes and just yeah, some of them more I mean,
it's a lot of it is still rooted in some
pretty like trophy romcom stuff because she also prop follows
quite a bit and she works in publishing, like stuff
going on. But it's like I felt like generally, especially
for this time, she was like more relatable. Yeah, and
there there there's like moments where I'm like, am I

(43:12):
reading too far into this? Probably? Usually, but there I
liked that like kind of the like subtlety of like
she wants to stop drinking, smoking and eating delicious food
because she thinks that she should hate herself for doing
those things when in reality she seems to like enjoy them.

(43:34):
And it's like I don't know, like I just I
really related with that of like, oh, she enjoys eating
food because she is a person human and she likes
like drinking with her friends because she's a person, and
she feels that she shouldn't because of all this you
know ship we're told of like you have to look
and behave a very particular way. Yeah, the things that

(43:57):
make her relatable to audiences are the same thing things
that she like punishes herself for, and the movie like
encourages her to punish herself for the other thing. Like
the other part of what makes her kind of a
sad sack or a person who we as the audience
are meant to think is sad is that she's single.

(44:18):
Like the movie frames being a single woman as being
pathetic and age to ever exist, right, And this is
like this is a very common thing, especially like in
the rum comm genre, especially of this era, where like,

(44:40):
oh my gosh, if you're not partnered off with a
man because of course you're hetero and you're older than
like wow, how pathetic And like she's feeling she's like,
oh my gosh, I'm so pathetic and everyone thinks I'm
pathetic and everyone's trying to set me up with someone
so that I'm not pathetic. But oh my god, it's
just like that is like who It's like that is horrible,

(45:05):
and we see that movies all the time. But then
on the other end, like I also the fact that
like she is experiencing loneliness in a way that like
I don't know, I feel like there's two things going
on with her at all times. There's like it does
seem like her character really does want a meaningful relationship,
but then on the other end, like she's constantly pushed

(45:27):
into the arms of these fucking losers who are not
nice to her because she's told that she's too old
to like take her time to find someone who doesn't
super suck. And it's like I did like that. I
don't know, Like that opening scene with her is like
so iconic. She's watching Frasier and she's like kind of
drunk and kind of bummed out and kind of lonely,

(45:48):
and I don't even dislike that, Like there's most people
have been there at some point. But then it's like
the movie telling you that it's pathetic and it's not
like just to how things are at different moments in
your life. Yeah, well, the problem is she then is
forced to go in this you know, the whole movie

(46:09):
is the battle between the only two options seemingly right, Like,
she doesn't meet other men and pass them up for
these two guys. It's just the one her mom introduced
her to and her moss and that's it, and she
just has to pick one. And I feel like they're
just even reading. It was interesting reading through the reviews

(46:31):
of this movie at the time, because I think in
two dozen one it seemed to be kind of like
viewed as like this amazing step forward that these toxic
relationships could happen around a normal woman over thirty, when
like the reality is like, these toxic relationships shouldn't be
pushed in any movie franchise, but whatever. Like the culture

(46:53):
at this moment was so gaslight into thinking that characters
that are Hugh Grant and Colin Firth's age would only
go after women twenty years younger than them and would
only do a fist fight after out like over the
finnest woman of all time, And they're like, well, it's
a woman who is a normal person, and she's like,
she's a woman who's like closer to their age than normal,

(47:16):
even though she's still ten years younger than them. Uh oh,
she's only four years younger than than Mark Darcy, is she. Well,
I'm sorry, I'm talking about the actors, but yeah, I
don't know. It's like it's not enough progress to be like,
now we can have toxic relationships with everyday women, it's
like right. Also, like just the okay, So there's that

(47:39):
scene where she goes to the party that was supposed
to be tarts and vicars, and no one gave her
the news, and so she dresses up in the little
like playboy bunny suit. She looks unbelievable. She's so hot.
It's just so pre posterous that that's in this movie
where she's supposed to be this like finally a real woman, Like,

(48:02):
she looks so hot. Also, I found it very funny
that that exact same plot point also happens in Legally Blonde,
a movie that comes out the same year, because like
both movies are a woman being told it's a costume party,
showing up in a like playboy bunny outfit turns out

(48:25):
it's not a costume party, and then has to like
feel humiliated that she's in this very sexy costume. Okay, Also,
why was that ever the theme for that party? Because
she shows up and it's all sixty and seven year
old people, Like, where are they really? Are they gonna
go through with this? Yeah? At what point were they

(48:46):
down for that? It's so bizarre. Oh, I don't know,
it's really weird. I had forgotten that about legally blonde,
and then only she and her dad didn't get the news.
So he's dressed up the size it's like breezed or whatever. Unbelievable,
very very strange. Yeah, So it's like we're supposed to

(49:07):
think that, first of all, Rene's Elwigger is like a
fat character, which and that that is inherently wrong by
the movie standards, both of which are deeply flawed premises.
I also like, this is a I forget if we've
ever talked about this on this show, but a very
specific grape I have as like and eating disorder head

(49:31):
is when people are mentioning like numbers when it comes
to wait in movies. It really bothers me because when
I was younger, it was like a teen or a
preteen hearing numbers was super like, oh, if I weigh
over this number, or like if I weigh this number,

(49:51):
I am bad, which takes into account absolutely nothing about
an individual person. But it was like completely god like,
there's this is so deprived think but like there's so
much of my like teen eating disorder that I can
attribute to an episode of Family Guy that it's so hot.
But it was like because they were like, if you

(50:11):
wait over this number, you are worthless. And if you
are like I don't know, it's like if you're over
a certain age, maybe you can be like clearly that's
a joke, and it's like satire to an extent. But
like when you're a kid and you hear Bridget Jones
say I wait this much and I need to wait
twenty less than that, I feel like that really does

(50:32):
like get your kind of serious brain going in a
bad way. I really. Catherine Cohen has an amazing joke
about she went on a date with a guy and
then he was like, come back to my place. You
can ride on the pegs of my bike and she
was like, no, I can't, and he was like it
can fit up to a hundred pounds and she was like,
you don't understand wait or math, she's the best. It's

(50:58):
so I don't know any time I move we regardless
of who the intended audiences, like, there were a lot
of young girls who saw this movie in two thousand one,
and it just I hate, like, on top of the
fact that you're having like a major plat point be
that a woman's worth is tied to her weight, saying

(51:18):
which weight is invaluable is like, uh yeah, and the movie,
I mean, the movie is obsessed with like how she
looks her body size in the sense that like she's
always putting herself down for her weight and her size.
Other characters are doing the same thing. Nothing about that

(51:40):
is challenged in any way. And yeah, it's just a
very of the era. It's weird. And you guys talked
about this before on the podcast, not out myself as
a big fan, um, but but like they kind of
hint like they're going to challenge it, but then they don't.
Like it's like almost like if we present this, it counts,

(52:00):
you know, because that horrible woman that that's in the
bathroom that Hugh Grant has turns out, is engaged engaged
to she goes, I wrote it down because it was
so horrific. She goes, I thought you said she was
thin about so it's coming from the mouth of like
the villain, right, but then she's criticized for it for

(52:21):
the whole movie, So you don't know that the movie's
point of view is very confused. It's very murky. It's
so because it's like they're the setup could do something
interesting to like comment on how like I don't think
it's un like it's hard to say it's unrealistic that
Bridget Jones tearing her body to shreds and like being

(52:42):
extremely critical of herself is unrealistic. But then but then
it but then nothing happened. It's just like she she's right.
I guess their answer would be that Colin Firth says,
why I like you just the way you are? That
would be what they're saying, is right anything, which her
friends are like, wait a minute, he likes you the

(53:04):
way you are, not twenty pounds lighter or whatever. They say.
They're like, they think that is unbelievable because even her
friends think of her that way. Kind of right, Yeah,
according to that statement, Yeah, and you can like Galaxy
brand that as well and be like, well, we know
all of her friends are also very insecure in a

(53:25):
lot of the same ways, and so there is which
is like again, it's like that is not something that
doesn't happen if like I know that whatever, if this
was a movie targeted at our mom's basically of like,
I know that my mom would hang out with her
friends and they would you know, kind of like talk
a lot about their insecurities and maybe not in a

(53:46):
way that was helpful or healthy towards each other. But
it's like it's a movie, you know, Like what's the point,
you know, other than being like this, I don't know.
I just like, you have this huge opportunity to say
something too a mostly female audience, so to say nothing
and just be like, yeah, we're really fucked, aren't we.

(54:09):
Here's a fantasy where you you're like married off to
a toxic guy, but at least he's hot, Like it's
just only horrible to you for many years. Yeah, Like, oh,
it's so, I don't know. I wasn't expecting to love
Bridget as much as I did. I'm really I mean,
I really have rooting for her throughout and she does

(54:33):
like managed to she does a lot of like pretty
amazing things in this movie that I feel like the
movie doesn't even really reward her for very much of Like,
she completely pivots her career in the middle of the
movie after she has this horrible experience with her boss,
who you know, realistically that should have gotten him fired,
although we know that rarely actually happens. But then she

(54:57):
totally pivots her entire life, and I was like, wait
a second, that's that's amazing, Like she becomes a TV
producer and like, but then but now it's like, I
don't know, it just feels kind of strange that not
a lot of like her victories and like what she
does to change her predicament, Like it's immediately forgotten about

(55:17):
the second one of the British guys enters the scene. Yeah,
because the story, the trajectory of the story is not
really focused on her career. It's all about the relationships
with these two men, which I mean, is now the
time to get into that. Well, let's take a quick

(55:37):
break because there's about to be a lot and then
we'll come right back. We're back, really really good. Before
we get to the men, I did want to say
that I guess again, this is like very I feel
like movies of this time like these like early third

(56:00):
wave feminism attempts at movie making, Like at very least,
we do see a lot of women working, and we
do know like any in high powered jobs. Yeah, like
we know what they do. We know that they're generally
pretty successful at what they do. We'll have a conversation
about Bridget's mom in a bit like I was generally

(56:23):
encouraged about like how much you see about women, and
like Bridget, outside of her rocky start at the TV station,
seems to be pretty good at what she does and
seems to be like interested in what she's doing. Um,
which is a very like it feels like crumbs now,
But I was like, okay, movie, did you reading that

(56:46):
Rene's elwigger worked at a publishing house for a month
to research? No, Wow, that doesn't feel necessary even you
really do not understand at all what she does for
work in the movie. Does not feel necessary. No, but
I read she worked at a publishing house for a month.
She like did a disguise and something so that people

(57:07):
couldn't tell who she was, and you know who she was.
She was dating Jim Carrey at the time, and she
had a framed picture of him on her desk, and
people would be like, that's weird, but no one said
anything that's extremely weird. So I don't know why Renee's
elwigger Jim Carrey early two thousands relationship totally makes sense

(57:29):
to me. But I'm like, you know what it. I
get it, that makes sense, But yeah, I don't think you. Uh,
I don't know that she needed to go with that
method and do that that little stint. Unfortunately, the movie
does not have that much to do with her job
for her career aspirations or really. I'm like, I couldn't

(57:50):
tell you what her job was. She worked in publicity.
She's like the publicity for the publishing house. I guess
because he does that really demeaning line where he's like,
you just come in and out with your memos and
you don't know anything about what it's going on or whatever. Um.
But no, you're totally right. They do have her. I

(58:11):
never know her name, but to me, she's moaning myrtle
her friend. Yes, oh my god, I didn't put that together.
The character's name is Jude Dude. But she she they
mentioned she has a big fancy job too. But then
she calls crying from the bathroom about the guy. But
she has a job. I guess where she's calling from,

(58:34):
ding dong, Like, yeah, we do know what women do.
It just never really comes into the plot outside of
Bridget's career change, which I thought should have gotten a
little bit more attention. Yeah, right, she has as a
journalist who says, fuck, that's all we know. Yeah, and

(58:57):
then there's all those lady barristers. True, yes, I mean
we only know them in the context of the other women,
like you know, Colin for its other woman. But she
is a lady barrister, that's true. And I will say
barrister as often as possible from you're on out. Um. Okay,
So let's I was supposed to start with. Okay, I

(59:18):
guess Daniel Cleaver is where I want to start a k.
Hugh Grant Okay, Okay, here's everything that's wrong with him.
He's a sexual harasser, big time time horrific, horrific, which like, okay,
what what is baffling to me in that scenario is

(59:42):
that he starts emailing her with like extremely sexually suggestive comments. Again,
it's like a quick run of the Bishemy test is
like it's a no, right, but you know, because the
movie is like, but hey, it's Hugh Grant who's trying
arming and cute, so it's fine, which, according to his

(01:00:05):
personal life section, is also how Hugh Grant lives his life,
so he's doing that. She does call him out for
sexually harassing her, but it is framed as a joke
because it's like her calling him out is part of
the flirtation um, which sends a very harmful message that like, no,

(01:00:28):
women are actually asking for it. They want to be
sexually harassed, which is obviously horrendous. On top of that,
he is a pathological liar. He is a gaslighter, he's
a womanizer, he's a cheater. Like he's just he doesn't
tell a single truth the entire movie. So between the

(01:00:51):
two men, I would say he is the more toxic one. Yes, yes,
but but but that's such two thousand's movie a lot.
If we're forced to put in it's like, well you
have you legally, you're contractually obligated to be in a
long term relationship with one of these assholes, and then

(01:01:11):
it's just like damage control. It's so depressing. It's that
classic like love triangle scenario where like a woman's caught
between two men, both of them are damaged for different reasons,
and it's a matter of like which one do I want?
The vampire or the werewolf? Do I want emotional abuser

(01:01:34):
or the man who's emotionally withholding I seem to decide
that the love triangle belongs to pride and prejudice, and
if you're going to do a love triangle, you have
to say it's it's a adaptation of pride and prejudice,
like there can be other triangles. Yeah, it's so frustrating,

(01:01:55):
and I feel like there's like a few moments thrown
in for Hugh Grant's character where you're supposed to be like,
not that bad a guy, like I don't know, little
insidious details like the fact that you are set up
to think that he's going to make fun of bridgets underwear,
which he does, but not in the way that she expects,
and so it's like, oh, wow, he wasn't completely cruel

(01:02:18):
to me about my underwear. I was about to say
that the canoe scene is supposed to be the one
that teaches you that he's actually like fun charming, but
he comes into her canoe against her will, right, It's
like she doesn't want him to and it's very dangerous.
He's like not even clearing the bar that we put

(01:02:38):
on the floor for him, so tripping over it and
falling flat on his face. But I feel like there
are those little details are supposed to be the ones
that like convinced us like, oh, he's not that bad
a guy. He seems like a womanizer, but look he
accepts her body, and look he's goofing around, and it's
like this is not enough. We need more for bridge It.

(01:03:00):
I'm going to need marka Bridget And what the movie
wants you to think is more for her is Mark Darcy.
So let's go through him. So, like we mentioned earlier,
he is extremely cruel to her from the very beginning.
So and then after that, in the various moments where
they are very just like coincidentally in the same place,

(01:03:23):
he's usually just ignoring her or being very I don't
even know, just stuffy and weird. Again, it feels his carecter.
The Darcy character feels like the only Jane austen E
character in the movie. It's so weird, like he does
feel actually Mr Darcy ish to me where it's like

(01:03:45):
a standoffish asshole who's like withholding his emotions. And then
it's like, actually, I have all these feelings but never
ask me about them again. Like he's the only Jane
Austen character in the movie. And it's weird because it's
two thousand and one, right, I think that's really all
she wanted to use. Yeah, I don't think it's ultimately,

(01:04:07):
I don't know. I this whole thing makes me want
to read the book because I would imagine the book
is more of a condemnation of the way society tells
her to his way in bla blah blah. But that's
like just a hopeful idea because the book is written
by the woman and then the movie is written by
her with three white men. I think, yeah, yeah, I'm
excited to get into the hell and fielding a. Yeah yeah, Mark,

(01:04:31):
Mark sucks like he he sucks. He's he's like, um,
by the way, I actually like you a lot, even
though he's done absolutely nothing to show this, nor would
he like they haven't even talked to each other, so
how would he know that he likes her? And I
fully think that the moment where we're supposed to think

(01:04:51):
that Mark is an awesome guy is when he can
cook an omelet. That's where we're like, oh wow, he's
actually like woke king because he can cook an Like
just the standards for these men are so low. It's like,
if you can fry an egg, you can marry Rene's elwigger,
and it's like, that's just that we have to eat.

(01:05:14):
We have to want more for her. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah.
His whole thing is that he's just so emotionally distant
and withholding. And then the big thing for me when
I was like, oh my god, he's awful is that
he invades her privacy when he finds what is clearly
her diary and then proceeds to read it. It's unbelievable.

(01:05:34):
We literally saw her write what it is on the
first page two times and then he reads it um
And the only thing that I was like, Okay, this
is I guess slightly not even redeemable for him, but
that he did the bare minimum decent thing to do.
And I was surprised by it because we never even

(01:05:55):
see the bare minimum decent thing for a man to do.
But he does ask for sent to kiss her at
the end, after he reads her diary. He's like, I
forgot to kiss you goodbye? Do you mind? And then
he waits for a response. He reads her diary while
she's changing into tiny panties for him because she was

(01:06:16):
so ashamed by Hugh Grant for her other ones. Oh
I didn't even make that connection. Oh that's so leave
Bridget alone. I feel like Mark is really the personification
of that like shitty thing that a lot of girls
are taught that. It's like if a man is meet

(01:06:37):
to you, it meets he has a crush on you,
and it's just that ideology, except he's forty and it's
all true where it's like, normally when men are girl,
do you it's literally just because um, they're not nice people,
they don't respect women. But but in Mark's case, he
is actually just He just doesn't know how to exp

(01:06:59):
He only knows how to express himself by insulting women,
and so she should give him a chance. He also,
like we've already mentioned, starts just showing up unannounced. He's
it's so weird, especially when the biggest win of Bridget's career.
I would like that moment where she like nails the

(01:07:21):
story and they're like, Wow, she's such a charming host.
We love this girl. Was because Mark showed up somewhere.
I just wish that she had gotten a win that
was independent of guy hands it to her. Yeah, the interview,
I mean, she does great at the interview, but she
gives it to her. And then the scene where they fight, which, again,

(01:07:45):
this is usually presented in movies. If two men are
fighting over a woman, it's because they just love her
so much, And isn't it so romantic that they're beating
each other to a pulp over you? And at the
very least she rejects both of them right after this fight. Yeah,
I did like that, But that is grounds enough that,

(01:08:07):
Like if two men are like so toxic in their
masculinity that they are going to physically fight each other
and then she ends up with one of them, that no, right,
I don't. I don't care for that. I was scared
she was gonna take Hugh Grant inside and go nurse
his wounds. I was so glad she did it. I mean,

(01:08:30):
that's like of the few wins that I do. It's
never enough, But I do like the two moments where
she kind of like hands Hugh Grants asked back to
him this moment and then when she tells him to
funk off at work, I mean he should have gotten
fucking fired for clearly having sex with every female coworker

(01:08:51):
he's attracted to and like relentlessly hitting on them, because
you could like build a story where that American woman
Lisa or Liza could be in a very similar situation
to Bridget and probably is where she is like being
hit on by her boss and doesn't have anywhere else
to work, and it's like that classic horrible situation for

(01:09:11):
women in the workplace of like, well, if I don't,
you know, do what he wants me to do, then
am I going to have a job or not? And
so it's not what I would how I would want
that sea to end. But I do like the Bridget
at least as like go fund yourself. I'm I'm out
of here. So I don't know. It's so there's both

(01:09:32):
so awful and the fight too. I was like, I
was trying to figure out how I felt about the
fight because it is funny to watch, and I feel
like there is I don't know. I feel like in
romcoms we sometimes see it's okay, tell me if this
is if I should just put my head through a
shredder and then I will. But I do feel like

(01:09:55):
with this fight, it was it was filmed a little
more like two women fighting over a guy than two men,
like you know, in combat, which I thought was like,
I don't really think it's better or worse. I just
thought it was interesting because I don't think you I
feel like you more frequently see women pulling each other's
hair in like fights like this than you see men

(01:10:19):
throwing like I mean, they're not fighting well, they're fighting
like really badly. I don't think it's good or bad.
I just sort of had that thought of, like, it
seems like they're having a similar fight to when in
the genre women are like, you know, tearing each other's
hair as opposed to like, I don't know, being at
war like they're they're they're not good fighters. It was

(01:10:42):
funny to watch. It is so long, it's really I
hate them both. Yeah. You know who ends up being
the feminist hero of this movie is you know, when
she goes on the series of job interviews to try
to find a new job in TV or whatever, and
ultimately the last one she admits, like I had an

(01:11:03):
affair with my boss and he is making my life
hell or whatever. And the guy goes, Okay, fine, you
start Monday. That guy was like understanding about how like
her former toxic workplace, like she couldn't. But then he's actually,
he's like, also, if you suck the boss, we won't fire.
You know. I liked her being honest about it for

(01:11:26):
a second though. She was like, I can no longer
stay in my toxic workplace, you know. But then no, never,
I take back everything I just said. He's only understanding
because he also wants to have sex with her. Right
He's like, oh, so you suck your boss? Is like
that horrific. I love Bridget, though, you know it's hard.
I can't get who does she? Okay, Caitlin, you've seen

(01:11:46):
the movies after this? Who does she? Does she end
up with? Anyone? What happens? I'll give you a very
brief rundown. So Bridget Jones Edge of Reason, which I
think came out in two thousand four. It sounds like
a James Bond End of Reason. So the story there

(01:12:09):
is it picks up like six weeks after the first
movie ends. She's in a relationship with Mark Darcy, and
she's like, I can't believe he hasn't asked me to
marry him yet, even though we've only been dating for
six weeks. I mean, how long is he dating Natasha?
You know, three minutes? We don't know. Okay. So he

(01:12:33):
is in like another kind of like barrister partnership with
another woman who um, she keeps thinking that he might
be having an affair with um. They break up at
some point, I think, And then she starts working with
Hugh Grant again, who is also now working in television.

(01:12:53):
He's also made the same exact career switch. Um. He's
like a travel show personality. So she goes with him
to Thailand. And if you are like I wonder if
there's a bunch of racist stuff that happens in that storyline,
you would be correct. And then she gets arrested and
thrown in a Thai prison what for a large portion

(01:13:17):
of the movie. And then Mark Darcy has to like
basically use all of his like connections to get her
out of this Thai prison. But he like plays it
off like, oh, I'm just the messenger. I didn't do

(01:13:37):
any of this for you. But then she finds out, oh,
he did do it all for her, and she's like,
he must still love me, and then shows she like
goes to him at the end and they're like, well,
I guess we're in love again. And basically the same
exact like plot points happen in the second movie as
do in the first movie. It's just like some of
the right. So that's the gist of Edge of Reason.

(01:14:03):
Now bridget Jones's baby, which came out and I believe
so like over a decade after even the Edge of Reason. Um,
here's what I'll say about it. It is two hours long,
which is at least a half hour longer than it
needs to be. It is so long and very slow
and very boring. Um. Hugh Grant's character is dead. What

(01:14:29):
they kill off Daniel Cleaver so he refused to come back.
He didn't want to do the movie. He was shooting Patty.
He's like, I busy exactly exactly. That would have been
like the right timeline. Yeah. I think that's so weird.
What how did he die? I want to know how
he died? He died? Um, I think something like he
was flying like a private Sorry, my neighbor's dog is barking,

(01:14:51):
but um, if you can hear it, but um, he
was flying like a private plane and then like crashed
it or something, so he's he's not in the movie. Instead,
the love triangle is with Patrick Dempsey this time. No,

(01:15:13):
he's especially hot in this movie. I was going to
ask if I should watch these in between Thai Prison
and Patrick Dempsey and uh so she has sex with
both Patrick Dempsey and Colin Firth within a few days
of each other, and then she gets pregnant, but she
doesn't know who the father is and she leads them

(01:15:34):
to believe they're both the father, and then Hi Jinks
and Sue, I kind of like this swim better. He's funny. Yeah,
like this is kind of fun more fun to me
than the second one sounds. That's such a bold move
to kill off Hugh grat That's so funny, especially because
Renee Sellwinger and like Colin Firth by sixteen, they both
have oscars and they're still game. But Hugh Grant is like,

(01:15:57):
I am not available. It's like if it's Paddington too,
I have no issue. True, you need to find out
why and then we can decide if we're going to
judge it. Um, but the skip ahead, you know, fifteen
seconds or whatever for the spoiler of Bridget Jones Baby.
But at the end of that movie, Bridget and Mark

(01:16:19):
Darcy ak Colin Firth get married and it was baby
was I don't even remember. I think they like figure
out like genealogically that it is Colin Firth, but I
truly was like only half paying attention, kind of fun
of Colin Firth raised Patrick's dempsies Baby there. Okay, So

(01:16:41):
if you were like doing a power ranking of the
three Bridget Jones that's what's your what's your ranking? I
would say the first movie I like the best, and
the Baby one I like the least. Also, especially because
like it came out five years ago and it is
really no less problematic than these ones from the early

(01:17:01):
two thousand's. That is there more than one book? Is
the book? Is it a series? It is a series.
I know that at least the first to like Bridget
Jones Diary and Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason, we're
also the name of the books. I don't know how
long this series went on for, but that's a that's
a great pivot into a little bit of context corner

(01:17:26):
stuff with Helen Fielding. I mean it's nothing that is
like completely earth shattering, but the the Bridget Jones is
like written and based on the life of Helen Fielding,
who wrote the books, who isn't Bridget Jones exactly but
has a lot in common with her. She worked in
publishing and then she made a career pivot in her

(01:17:47):
thirties to work as a TV producer, which is incidentally
where she meets the director of this movie, Sharon McGuire.
They were both working at BBC in like the nineties
Helen Fielding started writing this column. It all sounds vaguely
like British Sex in the City, basically where Helen Fielding
starts writing this column anonymously about her life as a

(01:18:09):
single thirtiesomething. It gets popular, she fictionalizes more of it
and turns it into this novel, which becomes bridge Gen's diary.
The book becomes really popular, uh than she gets. I mean,
the fact that this movie is direct like a rom
com in the early two thousand's directed by a woman, unfortunately,

(01:18:30):
is pretty huge unbelievable. Um and and I feel like
there are some choices where I'm like, oh, I'm so
glad that there was a female director for this like
I don't necessarily trust a male director to not just
be super obsessed with the protagonist body and like all
this other ship that I thought was at least more

(01:18:51):
tastefully handled. But anyways, Helen Fielding and Sharon McGuire are friends.
They're on this come up together. Um. What I think
is most interesting is that Helen Fielding, so because this
movie is turning twenty years old pretty soon. Um, there's
been a lot of like anniversary reflections. There was a

(01:19:13):
whole documentary on the BBC that you can't watch in
the States, so I don't know what happens. But basically
Helen Fielding has been reflecting on Bridget Jones, you know,
twenty five years after conceiving the character and watching this
movie back, and she gave like this really interesting quote
I would like to share about her experience watching back

(01:19:36):
this movie with her kid, um, who I think is
like in their twenties now. Um, So this is from
like December of last year. So this is from a
Guardian article and it goes like this quote, Bridget Jones
creator Helen Fielding is now shocked by the sexism her
character face, the writer has revealed looking back twenty five years.

(01:19:58):
Fielding said she would not be able to write the
story now. Watching the hit film of her first book
recently with her children, she was staggered. Helen Fielding says
the level of sexism that Bridget was dealing with, the
hand on the bum and so many of the scenes
made it quite shocking for me to see how things,
how much things have changed since then, Fielding told radio

(01:20:19):
host uh Fielding added that she was particularly struck by
a scene in which Bridget's fictional boss demands a shot
of the boobs. Seeing old attitudes that were just part
and parcel of her life depicted on screen again was alarming.
Although her heroine, played by Renee's Elwiger, is not a
passive victim, in the end, she turned around and stuck
it to them. Um So I thought, I thought it

(01:20:41):
was interesting to see, like, while this is like not
the triumphant feminist tale, like that, even like the author's
understanding of her own work, which is to an extent
a reflection of how she saw herself and her own
life at that time, has changed over years and with
all the you know not I mean with the progress

(01:21:04):
that has taken place since Bridget Jones as a character
was conceived in the mid nineties. The author is like,
oh my god, that was so bad. That was so
and in ways she didn't even realize as she was
writing the character. So I thought that was like kind
of a cool I don't know, you, I feel like
most writers don't give you that kind of level of

(01:21:25):
insight into their own work. Later on, Yeah, because you
do see stuff that again we with our lens, we
very clearly notice things that again we're just so normalized
in that era that just strike us so alarmingly as
just being very problematic, Like, yeah, she's subject to so

(01:21:46):
much sexual harassment, Like there's a creepy like uncle figure
character who's harassing her, and that is like played for
laughs arguably in the movie, but not because like I
don't think the writer was like, oh, let's laugh at
women getting sexually harassed. It's more just like that was

(01:22:06):
the mentality of that era and the same thing with
their boss too, or like that it's so weird. That
was like I wrote down like self bouschemy test where
you see her be hit on by two of her bosses,
but one she doesn't find attractive and so it's creepy.
And then when she does find attractive, so it's right.
And I was just like, well, there's a level of

(01:22:28):
self awareness happening there, and yeah, I mean I feel
Bridget as very much like a product of her environment
almost of like it's I kind of hesitate to fault
her for how hard she is in herself, because that
is all the that's the only message and feedback she's getting,
even from people who love her, even from her friends

(01:22:50):
and family, they're like, you're so, what's wrong with you?
And so it's kind of like, well, you know, unless
you have this, like unless you're like reading through feminist
text day in and day out, like what you know,
what are you supposed to do as a normal person
if everyone in your life is telling you that you're
like not worthy. I don't know. I really feel for

(01:23:13):
her and I'm glad she exists. So it's like, I
don't know, I love Bridgets Die, I don't love her diet,
but like I'm pro diary and anti the plot of
the movie. I think what also makes you wonder like,
since she spends so much of her diary railing against

(01:23:33):
Mark Darcy and saying how much she hates him and
how awful he is, why does she end up with him,
but also he wasn't a very big part of her life.
She's spending a lot of diary space on someone she
doesn't really talk to at all. Yeah, but you know
what's so interesting about hearing that quote is how many

(01:23:54):
female screenwriters can now reflect on a movie they had
made twenty years ago. That's just so rare. Like the
fact that it was I mean, she co wrote the
screenplay with a couple of dudes, but like the fact
that it was co written and directed by a woman
in two thousand, two thousand, and then came out in
two thousand and one. Yeah, Yeah, it's I'm like, I

(01:24:16):
was really glad that she was kind of like down
to interact on that level and not get because I did,
like so many writers and I don't even like, I mean,
it's like just people get defensive when you're like, why
is Bridget Jones? Like why is everyone so mean to her?
And she's like, I guess that's just kind of how
I felt, And like she also kind of comments on

(01:24:36):
I don't know, I feel like there's some kind of
like there was a string of articles that came out
in when the Bridget Jones Baby was coming out that
we're kind of just like Bridget Jones isn't a feminist,
so screw her, like, which I think is kind of like, Okay,
that's kind of weak. But Helen Fielding kind of talks

(01:24:57):
about that in where she says, quote at the time,
Bridget said being a feminist with a capital F was
another thing she felt she wasn't very good at. What's
great now is that feminism has sort of lost its
capital F unquote, which I really I thought that quote
was like super insightful of like, I don't know, like
I think it is interesting to have a character like

(01:25:20):
Bridget who seems to like want to feel good about
herself and she doesn't seem to really carry a lot
of hatred or judgment for other women in her life. Um,
and so it does seem like she is like kind
of this like aspiring feminist character, but she's just she's
not given any tools or any people in her life

(01:25:40):
to kind of get her there. And so I kind
of like, I don't know the idea of there's like
kind of this romantic rom com icon who's like this
very imperfect, aspiring feminist, Like that's that's cool. I just
wish that the plot was mostly different. I wish that
you liked either of the male options at all, a

(01:26:02):
single redeeming quality I take, I take, or even like
you know whatever. I know so little about Sex of
the City, but like I do know how the TV
show ends, and it's like, just choose to be single
at the end, Like that would be honestly given the
characters were given a pretty logical decision in this movie.

(01:26:22):
Is like her journey being feeling from like needing that
she needs to be in a relationship to realizing that
she actually doesn't, and then it's like she can There's
so much in her life to be happy about. I
don't know. Um, I just wanted to touch on a
couple other very of the early two thousand's era. Um,

(01:26:49):
just things you hate to see. One this movie is painfully,
painfully white. Bridget seems to only know other white people.
There is reference to Mark Darcy's ex wife who was Japanese,
and we never see her. We always never like leg

(01:27:11):
we see her legs getting railed. Yeah, we see the
legs of a woman who is having in the flash
body double. But that's it. Um. But Japanese people are
referred to as being a cruel race no less than
three or four times throughout the movie, usually from Bridget's mom.

(01:27:34):
But then Bridget, even I think, says it was clearly yeah,
it's like a joke for for them in a way,
it's not so um you know, that's awful. British's mom
also makes a holocaust joke within the first five minutes
in the movie, like two minutes of movie. It is unbelievable, horrifying.
I had to rewind it to be like, wait, is

(01:27:55):
like us to us too. I was like, Wede, let's
just let's check that out. Uh yeah, and then these
go completely unchallenged. Bridget has a like token gay best
friend character who and I had to ask one of
my British friends, how like offensive the word? And I

(01:28:15):
don't even want to say. Okay, I had this question too, Okay,
what what is the answer? So it's basically the equivalent
of like the American version of the F word that
is a homophobic slur. Not great. So the word the
P word, that is a homophobic slur used in England

(01:28:39):
gets used a lot in this movie. If I'm wrong
about this, like for our like British listeners, let us know. Um,
I'm not famously, we just don't know. We're famously not British,
and we don't know the nuances of your homophobic slurs.
So that Tom was another care to her that I'm like,

(01:29:00):
I'm I don't know, Like it's he clearly is filling
the gay best friend role in her life. But I
would also argue that he's no better or worse written
than the other women in the room. Like I think
we actually know more about him than we know about Chas.
He has like a bit because he wrote that hit
song nine years ago or something or something. It's kind

(01:29:24):
of a fun like it's a fun bit. I mean, ultimately,
it's like, the only you know, openly gay character we
have is there to just I mean, only exists in
relation to Bridget and it's like very much fulfilling the
gay best friend. But but in terms of her friend group,
I guess I would say we know one thing about
each of them, except for Chaser, who we know no

(01:29:45):
things about. She likes to say fuck, and that's the
main thing that people know about me. So I don't know,
that's how we talk about you, Caitlin, Like, everyone be careful.
Caitlin's coming over and she's gonna shape bus to say,
try not to gasp when she does it. Um, those

(01:30:06):
are the main things that that I noticed. I went
to really really really quick. I do that we're starting
to we're quickly approaching the run time of the movie,
but I wanted to really quick talk about bridgets parents
for a second, because they do have a small arc
that again I was like, I was interested in as

(01:30:28):
it was starting, and then by the end, I was like, really,
where we get I mean Bridget and her mom, we
get a little bit of insight into their relationship. Again,
some people will argue that this is like a Jane
Austin contrivance, but I think it's just more of a
general contrivance of like mother really wants you to get married,
but father is chilling pretty nice. Like I think that

(01:30:51):
that's a very common, annoying contrivance that is just made
to make older women look shrewy kind of just for
no reason. So that already is like, okay, come on.
But on top of that, I was interested in that
scene where Bridget's mom is like, I'm not satisfied with
my life and like I'm you know, getting older and

(01:31:14):
I've never gotten to have a satisfying career or like
things to sex or sex, like she's dissatisfied with where
her life is at, and it's like, Okay, this is interesting.
We don't usually get storylines like this, And so Bridget's
mom goes off. She basically started working on qvc uh

(01:31:36):
and which is like, you know, great for her, but
it's also inherently connected to her relationship with another man,
which didn't need to be. And then by the end
she quote unquote gets over it, even though this solves
none of her marital issues. And then it's supposed to
seem like really chill of Jim Broadbent of Mulan Rouge

(01:31:58):
fame and Paddington Fame. Again, he's Mr Grouper and Paddington.
Damn what I mean, King, We love Jim Brad Paddington
connections are all over the place. It does just seem
like they have fifteen actors total intain And yet when
we bring Renee Zellweger, when we bring a glorious American

(01:32:19):
export like Renee Zellwiger, people get mad. Um. They're also
in the IMDb trivia is all sorts of about how
many of them were in the Harry Potter series too. Yes,
there's a lot of overlap there as well that tracks,
but like at the end, it's supposed to seem like, oh,
Jim brad Bent takes her back and isn't that a
satisfying conclusion, And it's like, well, no, none of her

(01:32:39):
problems have been addressed or solved and he showed no growth,
like her father's mad at her for like doing what
she wanted with her Like it's like, you don't know
in the same way that both of like it's almost
like a toxic like generational trauma story where in the
same way that Jim Broadbent does not care really about

(01:33:03):
who his wife his wife is, like, nor does Colin
Firth really care who Bridget Jones is, and we're just
taken the same scraps that are offered to us generation
in and out. I was so bummed out with that
because I thought that was like a funny, interesting story
of like, oh, she's like forging her own path and

(01:33:25):
it's like kind of dorky and kind of messy, but
like go mom, But then it's not. Yeah, I was
so frustrated by that because she leaves Bridget's dad because
none of her like emotional or sexual needs or being
met in this marriage, which is huge for that for
women of that generation, Like that's a hugely And she's like,

(01:33:48):
I'm gonna, you know, like strike out on my own,
do my own thing. And then she basically just goes
immediately into the arms of a different man who treats
her worse. So then she just retreats back to Jim Broadbent,
even though he's again just like demonstrated no indication that
he has like that he's going to treat her better

(01:34:11):
or be more attentive to her needs or anything like that,
which now that we're saying it is literally what is
happening to her daughter, Like q Grant is the QBC guy,
and Bridget's dad is Colin Firth. Oh, I wonder if
that was on purpose or if just if life is
that bleak. But I was so I wanted, I mean,

(01:34:34):
all the women of the Jones family, I'm just like,
come on, come on, truly truly. But that said, I
love I love Jimma Jones, She's always fun. I love her,
and I love Jim Broadbent. And I didn't realize that
the friend was moaning myrtle. But now I can't stop thinking, well,

(01:34:56):
that was a complete mind funk for me because when
I saw the Harry Potter movie that she first shows
up in, which is Chamber of Secrets, I think, like
she's supposed to be like a teenager who would have,
like Bean a student at Hogwarts, and then you see
her in other movies when she's a full adult, and
I was like, wait a minute, this person is not
like six, supposed to be like fifteen. Yeah. Yeah, it's

(01:35:19):
so bizarre. I have been here for so many Halloween's
because I look just like Vaning Myrtles. Oh my god,
I do love Like that's the best like stretch of
like Riverdale logic of like, no, she's fifteen, and it's like, no,
she's forty two, but but I believe I fully believed
she was fifteen. Yeah, same. Ah. Does anyone have anything

(01:35:45):
else they would like to talk about regarding Bridget Jones
and her diary? I think I'm going to watch the others.
The type prison thing is really something I need to
check out. It's handled just about as well or should
I say poorly as you would expect. Yes, yes, Um,
the music budget in this movie it's unbelievable. Okay, you're

(01:36:09):
a producer, so you know a lot more about that.
I was curious because it was like they used so
many huge, huge what's the one she's singing along too
at the beginning to Yes? And it's also a whole
other level of budget for someone to like sing along
to it, Like there's playing and then there's like interacting,

(01:36:32):
and then there's like you know it didn't They always
ask us like, if people are going to do a dance,
then you have to like, do you know it's all
a the whole thing. I mean, I'm probably being dumb
and music supervisor will listen to this and be like,
shut the funk up, But I think it's a whole thing,
and so yeah, I just could not stop thinking about that.
The movie made absolute bank though, so sure, I mean,

(01:36:53):
who hundred million dollars it was million dollar budget or something,
which is I mean, I'm glad that it, like you know, launched.
I mean Renezellweger, I think, up to this point was
most famous for having been in Jerry Maguire and then
this is kind of what like led her to like
carrying movies on her own. And I love Renee Lwager.

(01:37:14):
I think she's a great performer, Like I have no
no notes for Rene's Lwager, except that Judy was not great.
But I'm I'm glad that she has an Oscar. But
that was a messy movie. But imagine someone getting nominated
for Best Actress for a rom com unheard of. I'm

(01:37:35):
kind of it's so. I'm like, I guess we just
had to be there, like because it's so because she
gives a great performance, but so do a lot of
rom com performers, and it's not even a thing. I'm like,
I'm curious if it has to do with that whole
Like she changed her body to play the part, which
I feel like is classically Oscar Batty in a kind

(01:37:58):
of toxic way. But I just I don't Maybe it
was just it was so successful. I don't know, but
I'm like, you know, good for her. They're like, we've
never seen an American do this authentic of a British accent.
Give her an Oscar. I guess. Also just like another
shout out to Rene's lgar because I feel like she's

(01:38:18):
uniquely criticized for how she looks and has been uniquely
criticized for how she looks at every point in her
career in a way that I feel like pretty cleanly
demonstrates for like, there's nothing you can do to not
get criticized, because when she put on weight for a part,
people made fun of her. When she lost weight the
year after this to do Chicago, everyone said she's too skinny.

(01:38:40):
She looks bad when she's gotten any sort of anything
that has altered. I mean she was like being mocked
a couple of years ago for getting plastic surgery, which
everyone does. And like for someone who see who's like
extremely talented, has like a shelf full of trophies and
seems like a really kind person, like she's just been

(01:39:01):
absolutely like torn to shreds no matter how she looks
at any phase in her career or life. So she
had an amazing quote I read when someone was criticizing
her for like supposedly having work done over the past
few years. She said, like, of course I look different.
I've aged also because I'm happy now. I was like,

(01:39:23):
I remember that girl, which I thought was great. Yeah, No,
I mean she's gotten it almost as bad as anybody.
Just any move she's made unbelievable totally, and she's so
talented and like yeah so I and especially I mean
if you compare like even if you look at the
three main players in this movie of like they have,

(01:39:45):
they are all twenty years older now. But who is
the only person that has taken a load of ship
for that? It's Renee's Alberger. Um, she's great, So shout
out to Renee. I don't know who won the Academy Award,
said of her, but oh yeah, I don't. It would
be wild if someone won won a Performance Academy Award

(01:40:06):
for for a rom com. I can't imagine. Wow. Anyway,
I want to know who won that oscar? I know,
I'm like, who snatched that from Renee's hands? What was
it would have been? It would have been too so
it would have been two to ceremony. Right, that's how
that works. Um, who t like it? Oh? Nicole Kidman
in the Hours, So another traditionally hot woman who slightly

(01:40:31):
altered her appearance and gave a good performance classic and
then they would both star in Cold Mountain together not
long after that. Right, Wait, I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'm wrong.
This year of nomination. No, this is Halle Berry's year.
So it's fine, Okay, Okay, it was Nicole because Renee

(01:40:52):
she's on a fucking hot streak. In the early two thousand's,
she was nominated for Best Actress two years in a row.
Because she's nominated for Chicago the next year. Wow. Yeah,
And then all of a sudden, she's living her life
and then comes back and we're like, I guess we're
going to give it to her for Judy's favorite film.
It always bothers me. I love I love Renee Seliger,

(01:41:13):
and I love Judy Garland and that movie sucks. So
I guess I just don't know what to say. I
did not watch it. I didn't think I could handle.
I was so I was really rooting for Judy, but
it's simply is a stinker. Yeah. Anyways, Bridget Jones Larga Jones,
Uh does this movie pass the Bechtel test? Yeah? Doesn't.

(01:41:37):
I actually wasn't sure. I forgot to pay super close
attention because I know that women interact a lot in
this movie. Between Bridget and her two friends who are women,
she and her mother. She has a female colleague at
work named Perpetua. Perpetua Yeah, oh god, I'm so glad.
We comment about it, which is like, I was like,

(01:41:57):
what an iconic name per Petua, Like it sounds like
a Greek myth right, and I was like, maybe it's
a pride and prejudice thing, but I don't think it is.
I don't know, like there are people in England literally
named perpetual. I mean, it's like a Midsummer Night's dream type.
I dropped off paying attention to whether it's super passed consistently.

(01:42:20):
I do know that it at least passed in that
longer scene with Bridget and her mom where Bridgets talking
about or where Bridget's mom is talking about it's. Unfortunately
the thing I had past it was Bridget's mom being like,
you know, I didn't really want children like that exchange. Oh,
if I had to do it again, I wouldn't have you. Bridget.

(01:42:43):
She's like, you know, I'm your child, right, and like
that passes, So there you go. Yeah, okay, yeah. I
was just noticing that most of the conversations between women,
while many of them are named, the context of so
many of the conversations were about Mark or Daniel or

(01:43:03):
Bridget's dad or the guy that her mom has an
affair with, or or they're talking about boyfriends or like yeah,
it's it doesn't pass as much as it should given
how many female characters there are named female characters. Yeah,
but if we're if we're keeping close score, it does
pass at least a couple of times that I was

(01:43:24):
able to find, but only, but weirdly, only in like
two line exchanges in longer conversations. But I thought it
was that was one of my favorite bad passes was
a mother telling her daughter that she wishes that she
was never born. It does pass, that's rough, I know. Yeah,
Well that brings us to our nipple scale, so zero

(01:43:48):
to five nipples based on an examination of how the
movie fares from an intersectional feminist lens, and I think
I can only give this movie like two because while
I do appreciate the character of Bridget Jones and the

(01:44:09):
like exploration of her insecurities and her being a more
relatable rom com protagonists who is a woman more so
than many other rom coms, especially of this era, there's
just so much of this era bleeding into the story

(01:44:34):
and contributing all these problematic things to it, namely the
like having to settle for one or the other of
two very shitty toxic men um, the just offensive and
problematic jokes, casual racism, casual homophobia, things like that that

(01:44:57):
make the movie not age very well. But yeah, I
wish I wish you could just take a character who
is similarly relatable and uh dealing with you know what
life throws at you as a woman who is like
navigating her career and trying to navigate romantic relationships and

(01:45:21):
trying to navigate just everything in your personal or professional life,
and have her be relatable and interesting and well developed
and just like put in a scenario that isn't so problematic.
So that's what I want for Bridget Jones. Um. But yeah,
so I'll give the movie to nipples, and I will

(01:45:46):
give one to Paddington Bear, and I'll give the other one,
uh Phoenix Buchanan, Hugh Grant's character in Paddington Too. Maybe
want to call in Firth for losing out on that part. Yeah,
so yeah, I'll give him a half nipple and then

(01:46:07):
I'll give another half nipple to um. Mr Gruber a K.
Jim Broadbent. I love Jim Brodbin. I feel like I
first saw Jim Broadbent in the really crummy Narnia movies
when I was he was in those. I didn't remember
him being in those. He plays I think their grandfather.
I don't know, I used to have a huge crush

(01:46:29):
on one of the like siblings in the Narnia family.
His name was Scandar. Anyway, he's a lawyer, now I learned,
I'm sorry, do you mean a barrister? Probably he's British?
What even as a barrister it must be something like related.

(01:46:50):
It seems like government really is it the same way
that like a lawyer and an attorney, that's like basically
the same thing. It's just like two different words for it.
Maybe in England it's you're a lawyer or but also
a barrister, same things. I don't know. So for our
for our British listeners, we need a lot of please
answer all of our questions. Do you have more than

(01:47:15):
fifteen actors? And um, I'm gonna go to nipples here
as well. I feel like Bridget Jones, the character I
am rooting for, I feel like there were so many
good opportunities in this movie to take on like Bridgets

(01:47:38):
insecurities and create a thoughtful plot that says something, And
unfortunately most of those opportunities were just like dropped where
I feel like it's very very rare in a rom
com for like the pressure that's put on women's bodies
to look a very certain way is even brought up

(01:47:59):
at all in meaningful way, and this one does, but
then nothing happens, And like it's very rare in a
rom com for agism to come up in any way,
and this one does, but then nothing happens, And so
it's like, I don't know. I hope that I don't think.
I mean, we already know that rebooting Bridget Jones is

(01:48:20):
not the solution to this problem, but I would like
to see in rom coms more often. And I feel
like this happens on TV more often than it does
in movies generally, which is true of a lot of
more progressive things that you know, like women who are
responding to the pressures that society is putting onto them
and like struggling with it because it is an impossible

(01:48:43):
bar to clear and you're never going to be the
person that everyone wants you to be. And I like
seeing a character struggle with that, and I like seeing
her be like what the funk and sometimes being like
fuck you, I'm gonna get drunk and listen to Shaka Khan,
because like it's just all like I don't know, I

(01:49:03):
understand why like female audiences of this time loved Bridget
Jones for being so like just putting it all out there.
But privately, I don't know. I'm pro diary anti plot
of this movie, and that is simply where and I went.
I went. I also, I just like I wanted more
for Bridget's friends to like they're clearly all like miserable

(01:49:28):
and very insecure as well. Just everyone in this movie
is so deeply insecure, and I feel like no one
gets less insecure by the end of the movie, So
maybe it's just real life. Um, I'm gonna give it
two nipples. I'm gonna give one to renee Zel Wigger
because I really love her, and then I will give

(01:49:48):
my other nipple to Chasser. Questions shassa, she says, fuck yeah,
I think two is right. I mean, if you watch,
I think I almost want to give it three. In
the context of Jamie reading that quote from Helen fielding
now because you're like, oh, she was just sort of

(01:50:10):
reflecting the time she lived in, you know. Um, but yeah,
it's almost worse that they like bring up these issues
and then let them fall, you know. Um, Yeah, I
think two is right. Unfortunately, but then I love bridgets,
so you know, I do. I want to read the
book honestly because she was so beloved and I see

(01:50:31):
why they did this. You know, do I give my
nipples out if you want to give them to you too? There?
For my goodness, no one's ever given us there maybe
once or twice, but in our almost three hundred episodes,
you think, God, God, I can't believe people us like

(01:50:51):
nipples more. Thank you so much for I feel so honored.
I have. I have one last Rene's Albiger quote I
like to share because Renee's Alwager has also been very
open about c as as an adult woman who has
been single for many stretches of her life and has
come to be like I was happy, so fuck you. Yeah.

(01:51:14):
This was what Renee Zellweger said a couple of years
ago about Bridget Jones. She says, if we were all
privy to one another's inner dialogue, we would recognize that
we are so very much alike. We all feel the
same pressures to measure up, and we all share the
same fears that we won't. I was like, you know what,
You're right, Renee Zellweger. She is and for her time,

(01:51:35):
I feel like Bridget Jones was doing the best she
could with the Crumby plot. She was given our fledgling
feminist Bridget Jones. She's working on it now she has
I guess now she's stuck with Colin Firth's baby, so
I hope maybe they get divorced and I don't know

(01:51:56):
too three years time we get like Bridget Jones is
feminist Awakening. The movie well, if it's, if it does
the MoMA mi A schedule, there will be Renee will
play like Margot, Robbie's mom or whatever, and will be
their kids. It would be kind of fun if Renee
or if Bridget, Sorry, they're one and the same. If

(01:52:18):
Bridget had like an extremely like militant feminist daughter and
then was like learning retroactively from her daughter and they
were bumped here it is. I'm like, Helen, I've got
an idea. Well, speaking of writings and such, Amy, first
of all, thank you so much for being here and

(01:52:39):
things nipples um uh. Tell us about your book that's
coming out soon. How can people get it? How can
people follow totally? It's called Notes from the Bathroom Line.
It's a big collection of humor writing by a hundred
and fifty Women in Comedy. Jamie's in it, um and

(01:53:01):
Caitlin's not. But it' because I didn't know Caitlin and
now I feel horrible. Um. And So you can order
it from wherever you can go to notes from the
bathroom line dot com. It makes it very easy to
preorder it, especially from female owned in the bookstores. UM.
And it comes out March sixte Baby amazing, highly recommended.

(01:53:21):
We're we're gonna post a little more about the book
on our social media as well, because there's so much
overlap between women in the book and Bechtel cast guests
so well. I love the Otsco um Austin Powers episode
so good, she's amazing champion. The fact that she's only
been on to cover Mike Myers vehicles left so so straight,

(01:53:45):
Like it's just something. And at this point of like
do we stop like or do we double down? I'm like, Okay, Otsco,
you're coming on for the cat and the hat. Sorry,
it is what it is our number one requested movie
that we cover. Literally no one has ever requested. I

(01:54:06):
was like, that is so straight. I couldn't. I was like,
we did Wayne's World by the other Mike Myers movies
I just ran out, so gosh, there's a bunch of
offensive ones where he's doing a weird character and or accent. Oh,
let's skip those. Let's do a cat in the hat.
I'll email her please. Um. You can follow us on

(01:54:28):
social media. You can subscribe to our patreon ak Matreon
at patreon dot com slash Spectel Cast, and it is
five dollars a month that gets you access to two
bonus episodes every month, plus the entire back catalog and
m And then check out our merch a dot com
slash the Bechtel Cast. Get a mask, and then where

(01:54:51):
two of them? And then we're two of them? And
you know we we don't say this enough, but why
don't you go on you know iTunes or whatever? Give
us give us, speaking of needing nipples, give us some
more ratings, give us some stars, preferably five out of five. Um. Anyway, Um, cheerio,

(01:55:16):
I'm sorry. Bye,

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