February 12, 2025 • 7 mins
Our resident film reviewers Ben O’Shea swings by the studio to give all the details on the latest instalment of the Bridget Jones film franchise, ‘Mad About the Boy’. Out in cinemas now- just in time for Valentine's Day!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Great per flick with BENO.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Morning Ben, good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Here they go again.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Where do we stand on Bridget Jones in here?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I said earlier, obviously I read the book.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Loved it, you know, way back when, and I had
a real problem with them casting an American in a
absolutely quintessent.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
UK counting calories, not killer jewels. Everything is different.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Couldn't be more British than Bridges British, And.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I said, It's never been anything against Renees Elweger. I
just couldn't get past them casting an American, and I
was never able to see any of the movies as
a result.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, well, look I definitely empathized with that, and I
too thought it was very strange casting, and especially when
you look at some of the other actresses who were
in the mix to play her, Kate Winslet, Kate when
that was too young, so they knocked her back, Helena Bonham, Carter,
Rachel Weiss they thought was too beautiful. Even even Kate
(01:09):
Blanchette was in the mix, and so that, but they
didn't cast any actual British people or Kate Blanchette and
instead went for Renee Zellweger, who had kind of done
Jerry maguire. She was kind of on the trajectory to
becoming a Hollywood superstar. She's from Texas, not very British,
but the people, you know, I'm sure that the thinking
(01:30):
from the working title, people who you know behind pretty
much every great British wrong coom was that we want
this film to have international appeal. The book is an
international best seller, so we need a Hollywood Starfational appeal
is the best seller. I know, I know, but regardless, regardless,
they probably they probably felt that they were vindicated with
(01:52):
the success of the first movie, Bridget Jones's Diary in
two thousand and one. He was a huge hit made
but I don't know, three hundred million bucks, and Renee
Zellweger of course got an Oscar nomination for it, the
first of her Oscar nominations. The next film came out
a couple of years later, The Edge of Reason. It
was not so great. And then many many years later,
in twenty sixteen, they came out with a third film,
(02:14):
Bridget Jones as Baby. That was probably the worst of
the lot. That was the one where we thought, oh,
as this franchise jumped the shark. Yeah, it had jump
the Kipp.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, it's the worst thing about that film was Hugh
Grant's character, Daniel Cleaver, who's a bit of a cad
but a lovable rogue. We all love him. He sort
of dies, He apparently dies in a plane crash or
something at the start of the film and then he's
not in it. So that's, you know, and so that's
really of a disappointment for the fans because this film
is really about that kind of that triangle between you know,
(02:45):
Bridget Jones and Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darson played by
Colin Firth and where it always was. And for people
who don't know, Helen Fielding wrote the book, but it
was based on her newspaper column, and Bridget Jones was
this fictitious car that was based on her own real
life friends. A way before Sex and the City. It
was the real life Sex and the City and Bridget
(03:07):
Jones was designed to kind of lampoon British society and
culture and conventions, which is why.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Everybody loves being a woman exactly in society.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Uh. And it was absolutely brilliant at doing that, and
then to turn it into a novel, she channeled pride
and prejudice by Jane Austen Mister Darcy in both a
lot of similarities blokes climbing out of bodies of water
and so and so that's kind of, you know, again,
very very British.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
And do you go for the bad boy or the
mister Darcy?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Totally? Totally and it a sort of a strong female
character who's trying to find her way in the world.
And the way Bridget Jones does that like she's a
bit of a mess. She does like she's not perfect.
She embraces swears like character and wears comfortable underwear yes
at the time. And but and that's why she became
such a beloved character. And so I got the chance
(04:00):
to go over to Sydney on Monday and meet Renee
cast in the film. And you know what, she's not
really like Bridget Jones in real life. She's probably more
like her character and Jerry maguire very very sweet, like
super super sweet. But she always seems like she's perpetually surprised.
You know, she's got that sort of look on her face.
You ask her a question, she's like, oh many of them, yeah,
(04:22):
but she but she but she was very sweet and
also I met her co stars in this film who
the New kind of Love Triangle? She would tel e
g Four from twelve Years a Slave. He was also
famously Peter in Love Actually he married Kieran Knightley and
then have his best mate Rock up on his door
on Christmas Eve holding up the signs saying that I'm
secretly in love with you. One I said she would
(04:45):
tell you know, looking back at that scene in Love
Actually it's a bit creepy, isn't it. And he goes, oh,
I'm glad you said that. I told them on the day.
Isn't this a bit creepy? And they're like, no, no,
it'll be cute. And I was like, not for Peter, no, no.
So yeah, So it hasn't aged well as for this film,
Bridget Jones mad about the boy. You might be thinking
about the last one. Gosh, is there any steam left
(05:08):
in this franchise? Please to report it's probably the best
one since the first movie. I don't think there's really
much argument about that. So she we find Bridget mourning
the loss of Mark Darcy, Colin Firth's character. He died
four years before the events of the film on a
humanitarian mission in the Sudan, which is Mark Darcy kind
(05:28):
of thing to do. And so she's left raising her
two kids, taking it to primary school, and you know,
really kind of in a bit of a no man's
land with her life. It's not going anywhere. All of
her friends, including her colleges played by Emma Thompson, who's amazing,
convinces her to kind of come back to the land
of the living, go back to work as a TV producer,
start dating again, even though now she's you know, in
(05:51):
her forties and sort of firing up Tinder for the
first time in her life and finding it a very
different kind of environment than it was, you know when
she was you know dating, you know, Hugh grand and
Colin Firth in the first movie, and so she ends
up kind of involved with these two men, one of
them much younger, a local park ranger played by Leo
Woodle from White Lotus Loads and so he's like in
(06:14):
his mid twenties, dashingly handsome, very very young. So there's
some age gap stuff there, which is quite funny. And
then you've got chuwatel Ideafour who plays mister Wallaker, the
science teacher from her kids' school, you know, straight laced,
no nonsense kind of guy who is the opposite to
Bridget Jones's kind of flights of fancy and romantic love
(06:35):
and all this kind of stuff. So you know, maybe
opposite's a track there. I don't know, you'll have to
watch it see. But you've got a lot of a
lot of setups there for Bridget to embarrass herself and
then kind of maybe learn something about herself along the way.
And I think this film, this film, like the first one,
feels more genuine and grounded in reality. The last two
(06:56):
kind of got a bit silly. Yeah, And this one,
I think is another film where people will watch this.
And and who followed Bridget Jones throughout her journey and go,
you know what, I relate to this as well. I'm
at the kind of similar stage of life. And things
do change as you get older, not always for the better,
but you have to learn to embrace the mess. And
and and as Bridget would say, keep buggering on, negotiate
(07:17):
it best you can, except you might drop a few
f bombs in before.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
All right, well, how many it should have been? Kate
Winslet's Nonetheless, I'm.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Going to give it a very solid three stars. It's
had more sold more pre Stle tickets than Barbie. In
the all the Best lines, he's back from the dead.
Some of the jokes are really close to the oh
my goodness, but yeah, but Hugh Grand watch it for him,
good Valentine's Day. A lot has changed since twenty sixteen, guys,
Great per flick with BENO.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Morning Ben, good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Here they go again.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Where do we stand on Bridget Jones in here?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I said earlier, obviously I read the book.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Loved it, you know, way back when, and I had
a real problem with them casting an American in a
absolutely quintessent.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
UK counting calories, not killer jewels. Everything is different.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Couldn't be more British than Bridges British, And.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I said, It's never been anything against Renees Elweger. I
just couldn't get past them casting an American, and I
was never able to see any of the movies as
a result.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, well, look I definitely empathized with that, and I
too thought it was very strange casting, and especially when
you look at some of the other actresses who were
in the mix to play her, Kate Winslet, Kate when
that was too young, so they knocked her back, Helena Bonham, Carter,
Rachel Weiss they thought was too beautiful. Even even Kate
(01:09):
Blanchette was in the mix, and so that, but they
didn't cast any actual British people or Kate Blanchette and
instead went for Renee Zellweger, who had kind of done
Jerry maguire. She was kind of on the trajectory to
becoming a Hollywood superstar. She's from Texas, not very British,
but the people, you know, I'm sure that the thinking
(01:30):
from the working title, people who you know behind pretty
much every great British wrong coom was that we want
this film to have international appeal. The book is an
international best seller, so we need a Hollywood Starfational appeal
is the best seller. I know, I know, but regardless, regardless,
they probably they probably felt that they were vindicated with
(01:52):
the success of the first movie, Bridget Jones's Diary in
two thousand and one. He was a huge hit made
but I don't know, three hundred million bucks, and Renee
Zellweger of course got an Oscar nomination for it, the
first of her Oscar nominations. The next film came out
a couple of years later, The Edge of Reason. It
was not so great. And then many many years later,
in twenty sixteen, they came out with a third film,
(02:14):
Bridget Jones as Baby. That was probably the worst of
the lot. That was the one where we thought, oh,
as this franchise jumped the shark. Yeah, it had jump
the Kipp.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, it's the worst thing about that film was Hugh
Grant's character, Daniel Cleaver, who's a bit of a cad
but a lovable rogue. We all love him. He sort
of dies, He apparently dies in a plane crash or
something at the start of the film and then he's
not in it. So that's, you know, and so that's
really of a disappointment for the fans because this film
is really about that kind of that triangle between you know,
(02:45):
Bridget Jones and Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darson played by
Colin Firth and where it always was. And for people
who don't know, Helen Fielding wrote the book, but it
was based on her newspaper column, and Bridget Jones was
this fictitious car that was based on her own real
life friends. A way before Sex and the City. It
was the real life Sex and the City and Bridget
(03:07):
Jones was designed to kind of lampoon British society and
culture and conventions, which is why.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Everybody loves being a woman exactly in society.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Uh. And it was absolutely brilliant at doing that, and
then to turn it into a novel, she channeled pride
and prejudice by Jane Austen Mister Darcy in both a
lot of similarities blokes climbing out of bodies of water
and so and so that's kind of, you know, again,
very very British.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
And do you go for the bad boy or the
mister Darcy?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Totally? Totally and it a sort of a strong female
character who's trying to find her way in the world.
And the way Bridget Jones does that like she's a
bit of a mess. She does like she's not perfect.
She embraces swears like character and wears comfortable underwear yes
at the time. And but and that's why she became
such a beloved character. And so I got the chance
(04:00):
to go over to Sydney on Monday and meet Renee
cast in the film. And you know what, she's not
really like Bridget Jones in real life. She's probably more
like her character and Jerry maguire very very sweet, like
super super sweet. But she always seems like she's perpetually surprised.
You know, she's got that sort of look on her face.
You ask her a question, she's like, oh many of them, yeah,
(04:22):
but she but she but she was very sweet and
also I met her co stars in this film who
the New kind of Love Triangle? She would tel e
g Four from twelve Years a Slave. He was also
famously Peter in Love Actually he married Kieran Knightley and
then have his best mate Rock up on his door
on Christmas Eve holding up the signs saying that I'm
secretly in love with you. One I said she would
(04:45):
tell you know, looking back at that scene in Love
Actually it's a bit creepy, isn't it. And he goes, oh,
I'm glad you said that. I told them on the day.
Isn't this a bit creepy? And they're like, no, no,
it'll be cute. And I was like, not for Peter, no, no.
So yeah, So it hasn't aged well as for this film,
Bridget Jones mad about the boy. You might be thinking
about the last one. Gosh, is there any steam left
(05:08):
in this franchise? Please to report it's probably the best
one since the first movie. I don't think there's really
much argument about that. So she we find Bridget mourning
the loss of Mark Darcy, Colin Firth's character. He died
four years before the events of the film on a
humanitarian mission in the Sudan, which is Mark Darcy kind
(05:28):
of thing to do. And so she's left raising her
two kids, taking it to primary school, and you know,
really kind of in a bit of a no man's
land with her life. It's not going anywhere. All of
her friends, including her colleges played by Emma Thompson, who's amazing,
convinces her to kind of come back to the land
of the living, go back to work as a TV producer,
start dating again, even though now she's you know, in
(05:51):
her forties and sort of firing up Tinder for the
first time in her life and finding it a very
different kind of environment than it was, you know when
she was you know dating, you know, Hugh grand and
Colin Firth in the first movie, and so she ends
up kind of involved with these two men, one of
them much younger, a local park ranger played by Leo
Woodle from White Lotus Loads and so he's like in
(06:14):
his mid twenties, dashingly handsome, very very young. So there's
some age gap stuff there, which is quite funny. And
then you've got chuwatel Ideafour who plays mister Wallaker, the
science teacher from her kids' school, you know, straight laced,
no nonsense kind of guy who is the opposite to
Bridget Jones's kind of flights of fancy and romantic love
(06:35):
and all this kind of stuff. So you know, maybe
opposite's a track there. I don't know, you'll have to
watch it see. But you've got a lot of a
lot of setups there for Bridget to embarrass herself and
then kind of maybe learn something about herself along the way.
And I think this film, this film, like the first one,
feels more genuine and grounded in reality. The last two
(06:56):
kind of got a bit silly. Yeah, And this one,
I think is another film where people will watch this.
And and who followed Bridget Jones throughout her journey and go,
you know what, I relate to this as well. I'm
at the kind of similar stage of life. And things
do change as you get older, not always for the better,
but you have to learn to embrace the mess. And
and and as Bridget would say, keep buggering on, negotiate
(07:17):
it best you can, except you might drop a few
f bombs in before.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
All right, well, how many it should have been? Kate
Winslet's Nonetheless, I'm.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Going to give it a very solid three stars. It's
had more sold more pre Stle tickets than Barbie. In
the all the Best lines, he's back from the dead.
Some of the jokes are really close to the oh
my goodness, but yeah, but Hugh Grand watch it for him,
good Valentine's Day. A lot has changed since twenty sixteen, guys,
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