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Dear Diary
This one's a winner

The British just may be on to something. It seems as if you have an original comic story with modern themes, the trick is to secure the services of Hugh Grant and then try and entice an in-demand American leading lady across the Atlantic.

It worked in Four Weddings and a Funeral with Andie McDowell and Notting Hill with Julia Roberts, and the success has continued with Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones's Diary.

That said, it would be unfair to dismiss this - or Four Weddings for that matter - as simply well-made formula vehicles.

Bridget Jones is based on Helen Fielding's international best seller of the same name, with the author joining Andrew Davies and renowned screenwriter Richard Curtis (Four Weddings, Blackadder, Mr Bean) to provide an excellent screen translation.

Zellweger's well-documented Raging Bull-like weight increase and a well-learned British accent  deserve plenty of credit as she becomes frumpy, clumsy Bridget, while Grant has fun with his womanizing role and Colin Firth adds a bit of under-played class.

This is the story of a modern 30-something woman still looking for a way out of the singles roundabout, but with enough independence and self-respect to ensure she gets out on her terms. It will win audiences with its honesty and Bridget's only half-hearted efforts to lose weight because she is ultimately happy the way she is. 

We meet Bridget at a party hosted by her parents, dressed one generation too old after her mother tells her to put on the decent clothes laid out upstairs. 

Her misadventures as she stumbles from one party to another, including one she attends in a skimpy Playboy bunny outfit mistaking it as a 'tarts and vicars' fancy dress, are a joy to watch.

Zellweger has done a fine job with the middle-class English accent, never faulting either her narration or on-screen performance.

It's interesting to see the producers have enlisted the talents of fellow American Embeth Davidtz in a British role but, if they were going to give her the dialect lessons, they could have made more use of her brilliant talent. The cameo appearance of Salman Rushdie as himself is very well done and quite amusing, while Jeffrey Archer also shows up at a book launching.

Just like Hugh Grant's character in Notting Hill, Bridget has an intriguing core group of friends who add plenty of colour and give the title character the chance to tell her story.

If the film has a flaw, it's that it struggles for about 15 minutes two thirds of the way through as Bridget's chaotic lifestyle turns serious between relationships.

For the remainder, director Sharon Maguire manages to keep the riotous comedy coming with a dash of warmth.

The bottom line: A feel-good comedy of generous proportions.

Movie Review Courtesy of The Advertiser - July 22, 2001.