Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy Review

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy streams on Peacock beginning Thursday, February 13, and opens in theaters outside the United States on February 14.

Even the cheeriest romantic comedy ending can leave us with a nagging question: What follows happily ever after? After all, there are no neat, easily satisfying endings in real life – a truth hit home in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the fourth in a series of rom-coms whose heroine has seen her share of “happily ever after.” It’s the first entry in the franchise to be undercut by a note of genuine sadness, leaving Bridget (Renée Zellweger) the widowed mother of two small children: 9-year-old Billy (Casper Knopf) and 4-year-old Mabel (Mila Jankovic). While director Michael Morris’ take on Helen Fielding’s novel of the same name also has a totally unexpected and novel touch of childlike wonder and magic, there’s no avoiding that this chapter in Bridget’s story is in large part about grief. She’s older and a little wiser and, though the movie ditches some of the usual silliness as a result (for the better perhaps, after the misfire that was 2004’s Edge of Reason), this is more than made up for by a whipsmart script from Fielding, Dan Mazer, and Abi Morgan.

With her husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) gone – though not Firth himself, who plays the late Mr. Darcy as Bridget’s imagined companion at some especially poignant moments – Mad About the Boy jokes that its protagonist is back where she started in Bridget Jones’ Diary. She’s still susceptible to bad advice, with her trio of pals Shazzer (Sally Phillips), Jude (Shirley Henderson), and Tom (James Callis) reiterating their favorite solution to life’s many problems: sex. As the endearing everywoman navigates the era of Tinder while simultaneously juggling childcare, all the things the series is known and loved for – relatability, mishap-packed charm, picture-perfect London locations, and great running gags – are in plentiful supply. She even finds herself at the epicenter of a classic love triangle, caught between the affections of swoony, part-time ranger Roxster (Leo Woodall – the “boy” of the title) and the more sedate new teacher at her kids’ school, Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor).

Much as a calamitous meet-cute in the park with Roxster and stomach-suctioning date-night knickers might sound like well-worn ground for the series, Mad About the Boy ascends to fresh levels of sly self-awareness and crackling comedy – with the bonus of parenting jokes that rival the heights of About a Boy or the BBC sitcom Outnumbered. In fact, young Mabel gets some of the best lines, and her comic timing often outstrips that of her older co-stars. (Her main quip is asking every man she encounters if he is going to be her “new daddy”.) Having Mabel and Billy’s perspective in the mix leavens some of the heavier passages; the enigmatic owl who takes up residence outside of the kids’ bedroom window takes much of the credit there.

There is also a sizzling energy between Zellweger and her latest love interest Woodall, and the movie is refreshingly unjudgmental about the 27-year age-gap wedged between them. If anything, one of its few disappointments is that their relationship could use more screentime. We don’t get much backstory for Roxster, a character who claims to be more responsible than your average 28-year-old but then wildly waltzes in and out of Bridget’s life more than once. Mr. Wallaker is shown to be the more reliable prospect in comparison, with Mad About the Boy drawing obvious parallels between his brand of uptight rationalism and Mark’s no-nonsense approach to life. The heat Ejiofor generates opposite Zellweger can’t quite compare to the uncontrolled flames she and Woodall ignite, but smaller sparks do fly.

Alongside these bright new stars in the Bridget Jones universe, fan favorites from earlier in the series make encore appearances, including Emma Thompson as Bridget’s snippy doctor and Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones as her madcap parents. Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), miraculously raised from the dead after being killed off in Bridget Jones’ Baby, appears to offer a trace of the franchise’s smutty, slightly outdated 2000s humor while he occasionally mucks in with babysitting duties. But most notably there is a newfound gentleness in this story about loss. Mad About the Boy recycles some some musty material on the topic, but treads carefully to ensure it’s meaningfully used: a lesser movie would have over-sentimentalized Billy’s storyline of a son struggling after his father’s death or cynically used his plight simply as a means to bring Bridget and Mr. Wallaker together. Whatever room is made for schmaltz, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy always stays (one sickly musical number notwithstanding) just on the right side of artlessness and sincerity.