Bridget Jones's Diary DVD > Reviews > Am I the only person who thought.........

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Lighthearted and easy to follow .
Disadvantages:	Book is better than the film

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Having read all the great (and the not so great!) ops on Ciao! on this film, I was determined to go and see for myself! After reading various opinions, not just from Ciao!, but from the papers, telly and friends, I took my seat in the cinema yesterday (and thanked the Lord I was not the only person not to have seen the film!) expecting a number of things:

1. That the film would be better than the book;
2. To be in stitches from start to finish;
3. That this would be the "Film of the Year";
4. That Renee Zellweger is perfect as Bridget.

I though I might have been right after the opening scene. Bridget is sat on her sofa, alone in her pyjamas, getting progressively more sloshed, pretending to be Celine Dion singing "All By Myself". That had me in stitches as it's the sort of thing we've all done when we've had a bit too much and start feeling sorry for ourselves! Things got even better
when Colin Firth turned round, at Una Alconbury's post Christmas "Turkey Curry Buffet" to reveal a "lovely" knitted polo neck with a jolly snowman emblazoned on the front! Again we've all had to wear the dreaded "Christmas Jumper"!

For me, however, things went downhill after this. Whilst I couldn't fault Zellwegger's performance, and in particular, her English accent, I felt that she was just too, well, thin to be an entirely convincing Bridget! Letitia Dean (Sharon from Eastenders) might have been a good choice, but I'm not sure if many of you will agree with me there!

I didn't laugh much at all for the remaining hour of the film. O.K. there were a few moments that made me giggle, like the soup that turned blue, and Bridget's collection of self help books, but there were none of the belly laughs that I had expected!

Colin Firth was good as the nice but dull Mark Darcy and Hugh Grant was perfectly cast as love rat Daniel Cleaver, but again, they raised little laughs for me.

Perhaps my disappointment with the film was due to the fact that I had read, and loved, Helen Fielding's original book previously, and had a good idea of what was going to happen? I felt the same when Marian Keyes' book "Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married" was televised. The parts I had enjoyed were omitted, leaving just a bare storyline.

I really don't think that this is the best British film to be made, more likely, I think the humour is universal and even Americans can identify with it, hence the box office takings!

Please don't let my op put you off going to see this film as it wasn't bad or unenjoyable and wasn't even boring! It just simply did not justify the media hype given to it.

Maybe it's wrong to go and see a film having such high expectations of it, but this film just did not come up to the standard I had expected after reading all your ops. I'm sure that I'm in a very small minority here though! Perhaps I'm just more of a reader than a filmgoer?