Bridget Jones's Diary DVD > Reviews > I have never laughed so much in a cinema

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Unmemorable
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	funny, funny, funny, funny, at times touching
Disadvantages:	erm?

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have never read Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's(that's how they spell it!) Diary, but after seeing this film, I think I will make it my business to do so.

I was expecting something, how could you not? Every other person has been willing to sing its praises, but after Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, I wasn't expecting to laugh that much. The funniest film in cinema I have seen was Something about Mary, but this film is funnier by a thousand times.

Renee (god please don't me spell her second name) Zewellger? It's worn gI know...why didn't she marry Jim Carrey? Her name would be easier to spell then! Anyway, I went in thinking 'yeah yeah Kate Winslet should've had the part, or at the very least, someone British, but from the opening scene, I was sold. I laughed more in the first five minutes than I ever had in the cinema, and thus spent the next five minutes thinking it would have to go downhill seeing that it had started so brilliantly. It didn't.

For those ignorant of the story, I'll try and explain it(it's not too complicated!). We have Bridget Jones, 30 something, and wanting to change her life. She makes plenty of resolutions to stop smoking, drink less, eat less and make something of her life, and to not date several types of men(perverts, commitment phobes, etc. etc.) She starts off terribly by flirting with her boss, played brilliantly by Hugh Grant. And unfortunately for Bridget, he's a bit of a bastard.

It's witty, it's funny, and more often than not, it's laugh out loud. The cinema was packed, and I was delighted to hear I wasn't the only one to be laughing so hard. Colin Firth plays an excellent Mr Darcy(that reindeer jumper!), and RZ has seemingly perfected an english accent, and is brilliantly flawed in the body department(okay, she put the weight on for the role, but still, it's strangely satisfying!). Some have said it's strickly a chick flick, but I'm not sure. It's hard to see why anyone wouldn't find this an extremely amusing film. For once, it is a flick that lives up and bypasses its hype remarkably.

Even when the film decides to reach out an touch your heart as well, it's hard not to laugh. Because it often wants you to, and it succeeds. Thus you are rarely swamped with anything but laughs, which in my book is only a good thing. The soundtrack is farily appropriate, but hardly memorable, I can only recall hearing three tracks played during the film, Gabrielle's fantastic new single, Geri Halliwell's cover of It's raining men(sounds exactly the same as the first version, but strangely appropriate) and another I can't quite remember.

There is not a role out of place, and not a moment that isn't funny when it should be. Jones' narration is refreshingly wry yet hilarious and I really couldn't recommend this film any less. After disappointments such as Hannibal, it's nice to pay out good money to see an absolutely fantastically funny film. If you don't laugh, or even smile at least once when you see this film then I'm sorry, but it's likely that you have no funny bone. Or alternatively, my sense of humour, along with many others, is seriously warped.