As I’ve said on my review for ‘Pride and Prejudice’ (2005), there’ve been many adaptations of Jane Austen’s most famous novel. One that is usually overlooked and might come as a surprise to most people is 2001’s British comedy ‘Bridget Jones’…which is essentially ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in a modern setting. Or as modern as you could get by 2001 standards.
I was able to watch this on VHS back in the day and I rewatched it again last week via Netflix. It’s as good as I remember.
Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) is a thirty-something year old journalist. One New Year’s Eve, Bridget realizes something; she no-longer wants to be living on her own anymore.
During a party at her parent’s house Briget runs into someone that she knew many years ago; barrister Mark Darcy (Colin Firth basically playing the same character he played on the 1995 ‘Pride and Prejudice’ TV series from the BBC). Bridget takes an immediate dislike to Mark because of his attitude but Mark secretly likes her despite that.
Soon she’s back at work…and develops a crush on her boss Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). Briget wants to go ahead with her romantic fantasy about Daniel but her friends try to warn her against it. Especially since Briget is overweight because she smokes and drinks a lot. She vows to change her ways so that Daniel can start to notice her and she documents it all in her diary.
The other reason why her friends try to discourage Briget is that Daniel already has a girlfriend. Briget isn’t concerned as she’d rather have an affair with someone than be alone again.
I originally watched ‘Briget Jones’ on my mum’s VHS player since she had it at the time and I really enjoyed but hadn’t watched it again since. That was until I rewatched it again last week via Netflix. I’m ashamed that I never realized at the time that it was essentially a modern take on ‘Pride and Prejudice’ until some years later.
Briget is a sympathetic character despite her many faults (including smoking and drinking) and is wonderfully played by Renee. Mark is played in the same way that Colin played Darcy on ‘Pride and Prejudice’; really well done. Daniel was basically Mr. Wickam and I thought Hugh did a better job of playing him than Edward on ‘Sense and Sensibility’ back in 1995 (he always seemed a bit lost in that role whenever Edward came into a room).
There are also some very funny moments in ‘Briget Jones’ such as the fight between Mark and Daniel at one point during the film (I’ve been saying for years that Darcy should’ve had a go at Wickam and I guess this is the closest I’m going to get!).
Over all, a good film to watch if you want a bit of un-PC British humour from the early 2000’s…and if you want a modern take on a Jane Austen classic.
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