Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Director: Michael Morris
Writer: Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer, Abi Morgan
Based on: Helen Fielding’s novel
Sequel to: Bridget Jones’s Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Bridget Jones’s Baby
Cast: Renée Zellweger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Mila Jankovic, Casper Knopf, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, Sally Phillips, James Callis, Shirley Henderson, Emma Thompson, Isla Fisher, Celia Imrie
Seen on: 22.6.2026

Plot:
Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) has it all: two lovely children (Mila Jankovic, Casper Knopf) and her Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Or rather, she had it because Mark passed away suprisingly a few years ago. Ever since then, Bridget has been even more of a mess and barely holding it together. But after a fateful encounter with a young park ranger, Roxster (Leo Woodall), maybe Bridget is ready to dip her toes back into the dating pool. Or maybe there are sparks between her and the grumpy science teacher Mr. Walliker (Chiwetel Ejiofor)?

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy gives us exactly what we expect from a Bridget Jones movie and is pretty satisfying in that way, even if I thought that a little bit more deviation from the expected wouldn’t have hurt either.

The Bridget Jones movies have accompanied us for 25 years now, and even if there haven’t been that many of them in those 25 years, it is hard to imagine the RomCom landscape without them by now. Even if not all of them have been equally good, they have always had impressive casts, a good sense of pacing and comedic timing, and enough charm to fuel a mid-sized country (arguably, it almost makes up for Bridget’s obsession with her weight).

So, when I say that Mad About the Boy gives us the expected, this is by no means a low expectation. Then again, it is hard to imagine that the film could somehow not work, given that every second scene has yet another great cameo or call-back to earlier films, and Zellweger brings her A-game. That we know exactly where things were headed and almost every beat in the story we’d pass along the way, doesn’t mean that the voyage isn’t enjoyable.

At times, though, I felt that things grew a little stale. Unfortunately that mostly concerns Mr. Walliker who remains way too flat as a character. That is not the fault of Ejiofor whose charismatic presence gives Walliker all the dimension the film allows him. It’s just that the film spends so much more time ogling Roxster and developing his relationship with Bridget than it ever does on Walliker that he feels absolutely colorless in comparison. So, when he and Bridget do connect, it feels a little lackluster, which it really shouldn’t.

That being said, it is not so bad to torpedo the entire film. Even if I would have liked a little more build-up, Zellweger and Ejiofor do have chemistry and the ending is satisfying nevertheless. Also, I really appreciated that Daniel (Hugh Grant) does get to grow as a character, too. Overall, the film is definitely enjoyable.

Summarizing: Bridget Jones as only Bridget Jones can.