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"BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY"
(2001) (Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant) (R)

Alcohol/
Drugs
Blood/Gore Disrespectful/
Bad Attitude
Frightening/
Tense Scenes
Guns/
Weapons
Heavy Moderate Heavy *Minor *Mild
Imitative
Behavior
Jump
Scenes
Music
(Scary/Tense)
Music
(Inappropriate)
Profanity
Mild None None Minor Extreme
Sex/
Nudity
Smoking Tense Family
Scenes
Topics To
Talk About
Violence
Heavy Extreme Mild Moderate *Moderate


QUICK TAKE:
Romantic Comedy: A single, thirty-something woman decides to get her life in order by losing weight, giving up various vices and finding a man.
PLOT:
It's the beginning of the new year for Bridget Jones (RENÉE ZELLWEGER), a 32-year-old, single woman who works at London publishing house. Determined to improve her life by losing weight, cutting down on cigarettes and booze, and finding a man, Bridget begins keeping a diary to record her attempts and thoughts about such efforts.

While the first two are up to just her, the latter obviously requires a willing man. Among her immediate choices is Mark Darcy (COLIN FIRTH), a staid and proper, but divorced barrister who she's known but not particularly liked since they were kids. Then there's Daniel Cleaver (HUGH GRANT), a terribly charming and handsome chap who just so happens to be her boss.

After a bout of flirting, she chooses Daniel - who claims Darcy stole his fiancée in the past - and they begin a passionate affair. Yet, when one part of her life goes well, the other inevitably falls apart as she discovers that her parents (JIM BROADBENT and GEMMA JONES) are separating, with her mother beginning a relationship with her boss, a TV shopping channel host.

Bridget's close friends, Tom (JAMES CALLIS), Shazza (SALLY PHILLIPS) and Jude (SHIRLEY HENDERSON) couldn't be happier for her regarding her relationship, while Darcy - who's involved with fellow lawyer Natasha (EMBETH DAVIDTZ) - seems a bit disturbed by that and even somewhat interested in Bridget.

Bridget's happiness ends, however, when she discovers Daniel with another woman. From that point on, and with the help of her friends, Bridget decides to follow through on her resolutions that ultimately include choosing between Daniel and Darcy as her lover.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
If they're fans of anyone in the cast, British-themed romantic comedies or the original source novel, they just might.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R
For language and some strong sexuality.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
  • RENÉE ZELLWEGER plays a 32-year-old woman who's obsessed with her weight, consumption of alcohol and cigarettes (both of which she uses in high quantity) and finding Mr. Right. She ends up sleeping with her boss, uses strong profanity, and has various disparaging thoughts toward others.
  • COLIN FIRTH plays a barrister who's known Bridget from the time they were kids and finds himself increasingly interested in her despite his initial appearance of not liking her. He gets into a fight with Daniel over a past incident between them and briefly uses strong profanity.
  • HUGH GRANT plays Bridget's boss who has an affair with her, only to build up her expectations before breaking her heart by sleeping with another woman. He also uses strong profanity, occasionally smokes and gets into a fight with Darcy.
  • JAMES CALLIS, SALLY PHILLIPS and SHIRLEY HENDERSON play Bridget's friends who smoke, use strong profanity and support her during her rough times.
  • JIM BROADBENT plays Bridget's father who can't believe his wife has left him. He also smokes some.
  • GEMMA JONES plays Bridget's mother who has an affair with another man before eventually returning to her husband.
  • EMBETH DAVIDTZ plays Mark's somewhat condescending and demanding girlfriend/apparent fiancée.
  • CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

    HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE


    Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
    Then read OUR TAKE of this film.


    (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).


    OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
    The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated romantic comedy. Profanity consists of at least 31 "f" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also used. All sorts of sexually related dialogue - some of it explicit - is also present, while a few sexual encounters are seen (intercourse, fooling around and making out) and include some nudity and movement, while others are implied. Several women are seen in skimpy/revealing clothing (a Playboy bunny type outfit, small underwear, etc.), while a nude woman sits with an oversized book that covers any explicit views of her body.

    Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, while many smoke (the main character does so more than 10 times) and drink (with varying levels of intoxication). Some tense family moments involve the split up of an older couple's marriage (although they get back together). Violence consists of a fistfight played for laughs, while a scene from the movie "Fatal Attraction" is briefly seen and includes a character being shot to death with bloody results.

    If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone in your home who may want to see it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed content listings for more specific information about what occurs in the film.


    ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE
  • People have drinks at a party, including Bridget, who tells Mark that she still has a hangover from the night before. After that party, she mentions (in voice over narration) leading a life where her major relationship would be with a bottle of wine.
  • Bridget drinks by herself (guzzling down a glass of wine) and appears somewhat intoxicated as she sings along with a song.
  • Bridget makes note of how much she drinks in her diary.
  • Bridget and her friends drink liquor and then shots in a bar/club and in the next scene we see Bridget fall from a car, rather intoxicated.
  • Bridget daydreams about her wedding where various people have champagne.
  • Bridget's friends drink.
  • People have drinks/wine at a reception.
  • Bridget and Daniel have wine with dinner.
  • We see a beer in Bridget's small rowboat.
  • People have drinks at a party.
  • Bridget drinks many shots of vodka while depressed and she appears to be drunk as she then falls to the floor, passed out. The next scene shows a montage of her throwing out various things from her past life, including bottles of liquor.
  • People have wine at a dinner party.
  • Bridget and her friends have drinks.
  • Bridget and Mark have wine, and they later do the same when her friends join them. Later, Daniel shows up with a bottle of wine.
  • Bridget's mom and her new boyfriend have wine on their TV show.
  • People have drinks at a party.
  • In some home movie footage from the past, we see 4-year-old Bridget carrying a bottle of wine and then actually drinking from it.
  • BLOOD/GORE
  • Bridget watches a scene from the movie "Fatal Attraction" where Glenn Close's character is shot and we see blood run from the bullet wound in her clothing and then smear along the shower wall as her body slides down it.
  • During a fight, Mark has some blood on his shirt and Daniel has some on his face.
  • DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE
  • Bridget's mother makes an offhand comment about the Japanese being a "very cruel race" (in relation to Mark's fiancée being Japanese and divorcing him).
  • A man Bridget refers to as "Uncle Jeffrey" (who isn't her uncle) is a lech who's always groping or making related comments to her. At a party, he gropes her clothed butt and asks about her love life.
  • Mark makes some disparaging remarks about Bridget (that she overhears).
  • Bridget makes various disparaging remarks about others in voice over narration and her diary.
  • Trying to cover for who she was talking to on the phone, Bridget lies about who it was to Daniel (and he catches her doing it, but the scene is played for charming laughs).
  • A man in Bridget's office always calls her by the wrong name.
  • We learn that one man had an affair with another man's wife in the past.
  • After they appear to be an item (at least in her mind), Bridget discovers a nude woman (partially covered) in Daniel's bathroom and he admits to seeing this woman (that he tried to keep a secret from Bridget). That woman then tells Daniel that she thought he said Bridget was thin (said in a condescending manner).
  • Various people at a party keep asking Bridget why she's not involved with anyone.
  • FRIGHTENING SCENES
  • Some may find a scene from the movie "Fatal Attraction" as somewhat unsettling if they haven't seen it before (a character is shot to death and there's a fair amount of blood), while a fight scene could be a tiny bit tense to viewers sensitive to any form of violence, but the entire bit is played for laughs even if the two men do inflict some blows on one another.
  • GUNS/WEAPONS
  • Bridget watches a scene from the movie "Fatal Attraction" where Glenn Close's character is shot and we see blood run from the bullet wound in her clothing and then smear along the shower wall as her body slides down it.
  • IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR
  • Phrases: "F*ck-wits," "F*ck 'em," "I couldn't give a f*ck," "F*ck them," "(Oh) f*ck me" (nonsexual), "For f*ck's sake," "What the f*ck /is going on/do you think you're doing?" "F*cked up," "Come the f*ck on," "Oh yes, they f*cking do," (we also see the "F" word written across the screen for a laugh with many "u's" in the word), "Ham-fisted c*nt," "Sh*tfaced," "Oh sh*t," "Double sh*t," "Blow job" (oral sex), "Puff" (homosexual), "Shut up," "Suck up," "You dirty bitch" (said playfully), "Nasty bastard," "Bloody" (adjective), "Piss," "Idiot," "Oh bloody hell," "Bugger off," "Screwed up," "Pissed" (drunk) and "Full of crap."
  • Daniel recites a limerick about someone who had a peculiar feeling, "and opened her crack and pissed all over the ceiling."
  • Bridget quits working for Daniel, stating that if his last offer to stay means having to be anywhere near him, she'd rather take a job "wiping Saddam Hussein's ass."
  • JUMP SCENES
  • None
  • MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)
  • None
  • MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)
  • A song has the lyrics, "And making love was just for fun…those days are gone."
  • PROFANITY
  • At least 31 "f" words (1 written on the screen in exaggerated length), 6 "s" words, 5 slang terms for sex ("laid" and variations of "shag"), 3 slang terms for/using male genitals ("pr*ck," "knob" and what sounded like "nip"), 1 using female genitals ("c*nt"), 5 slang terms for breasts ("t*ts"), 3 asses, 3 bollocks, 2 hells, 2 wankers, 1 crap, 6 uses of "Oh God," 2 each of "Oh Jesus" and "Oh Christ" and 1 use each of "G-damn," "Christ," "For Christ's sakes" and "Jesus Christ" as exclamations.
  • SEX/NUDITY
  • A man gropes Bridget's clothed butt at a party.
  • A person mentions something about a man's "knob" (penis).
  • Tom states that "a blow job is in order" in relation to something that someone else says.
  • Bridget states in voice over narration that Tom wrote one hit record in the eighties that was "enough to get him laid" for all of the '90s.
  • Bridget comes into the office wearing a somewhat transparent top that clearly shows her black bra beneath it. As she and Daniel exchange flirtatious email messages to each other, he states "Like your t*ts in that top." Later, Daniel puts his hand on her clothed butt in an elevator.
  • As Bridget prepares for a reception, it appears that we briefly see the side of her bare butt among many other quick shots, and we then see her in her panties as she vacuums.
  • A woman finishes someone else's sentence by stating something about "comes all over your face."
  • Bridget talks (in voice over narration) about some skimpy panties she's showing and how they'd come in handy if she found herself in flagrante, but instead she puts on her big, "grandmother" underwear (and we see her in them). She also shows some cleavage.
  • Daniel playfully asks Bridget to tell him about practicing French kissing with other girls. When she says that she's never done that, he tells her to make it up. He then invites her back to his place, stating that there wont' be any monkey business, just sex (in a flirting fashion).
  • We then see them making out, then him walking with her legs wrapped around him and finally him getting on top of her on the sofa and then onto the floor where they roll around a bit on top of each other (clothed). He then kisses down her chest and runs his hand along her leg, lifting up her skirt to reveal the above-mentioned "grandmother" panties. He then makes some jokes about the panties and wants to see them again, but she won't let him (with both acting playfully).
  • We then hear that Bridget has replaced food with sex and then see a shot of Daniel rolling off from being on top of her after having sex. She's in her bra and he comments that it was fantastic. Moments later she asks him whether people at work will know they're sleeping together. The phone then rings and Bridget answers it, stating that she's sex goddess and that she has a very bad man between her thighs.
  • We see Bridget's mother showing off an egg peeling gizmo where the visual joke for the viewer is that the motion used with the gizmo looks like that of male masturbation and some liquid then squirts out of the end of the gizmo (like an ejaculation). Later, when she talks to Bridget, she complains that she has no sex life.
  • Bridget states that a mini-break getaway means that there's more to her and Daniel seeing each other than just "shagging."
  • In bed with Daniel, Bridget jokes that some sexual thing he did is illegal in several countries, and after he later threatens to do it to her again, we then hear her playful and hearty laughter as he apparently does that as the camera leaves their room and we don't see whatever they're doing.
  • Bridget dresses up like an old-fashioned Playboy bunny (a short one-piece outfit complete with puffy tail) for a Tart and Vicars costume party and she shows some cleavage in the outfit. An older man attending the party then repeatedly tries to squeeze that tail. Another woman at the party also shows cleavage in her low-cut dress.
  • Bridget discovers a nude woman sitting on the edge of Daniel's bathtub with just an oversized book covering her more explicit nudity.
  • As Bridget turns through the TV channel, she briefly stops on a shot of a male lion mating with a female.
  • An interviewer asks Bridget why she's looking for a new job and she replies that she "shagged" her boss. That man then offers her the job and adds that there, no one ever gets sacked (fired) for "shagging" the boss.
  • While doing a TV reporting assignment, Bridget is instructed to dress in a mini-skirt and then slide down a fire pole. As she does, she runs butt-first into the camera, knocking down the cameraman and giving everyone a close-up shot of her panties. Later, she then repeatedly replays that scene forward and backward.
  • After people at a dinner party ask Bridget if she's still seeing her boss, some man states that it's not a good idea to dip "your nip in the office ink."
  • Bridget talks to her mother on the phone who starts to tell Bridget that sex with her new man is very surprising. She then starts to explain why, stating that she was just starting to doze off when she felt this huge… but Bridget says she has to go and hangs up the phone.
  • From a distance and only for a very brief moment, we see a sexual encounter on the floor (with what looked like the woman on top of the man and a quick shot of her bare butt).
  • After Mark nearly kisses her, Bridget tells him to wait a moment and then goes into her bedroom to change, stating that it's definitely an occasion for "tiny knickers." He abruptly leaves, however, and she comes out wearing just a tank top (that shows cleavage) and her small panties. Realizing he's left, she then puts on some shoes and an overcoat and goes outside, running through the snow to try and find him (and drawing stares from those she passes due to her state of attire). We thus see various shots of her in that underwear that shows part of her bare butt. When she finally catches him, they make out standing on the snowy sidewalk and we see the side of her bare butt as the camera pans up their bodies. She then stops him for a moment and says that nice boys don't kiss like that and he replies, "Oh yes, they f*cking do."
  • SMOKING
  • Bridget smokes more than 10 times, her three friends collectively smoke in several scenes, her father and Daniel smoke a few times, and some miscellaneous characters also smoke.
  • Bridget makes note of how much she smokes in her diary and at one point in the film we see a montage of her throwing out things from her past life, including cigarettes.
  • In some home movie footage from the past, we see 4-year-old Bridget with some unlit cigarettes in her mouth.
  • TENSE FAMILY SCENES
  • Bridget learns that her parents aren't getting along and then that her mother has moved out and has started to see the host of a TV shopping channel with whom she works. Eventually, however, the mother comes home and asks for forgiveness and to be taken back by her husband (after acting like he's unsure, he then gladly does so).
  • TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT
  • The way in which Bridget views herself (regarding her weight, vices, etc.), and how she reacts to how others view her.
  • The subject of women who haven't married by the time they're in their thirties.
  • The way in which both Daniel and Mark tread Bridget in the film.
  • VIOLENCE
  • Bridget watches a scene from the movie "Fatal Attraction" where Glenn Close's character is shot and we see blood run from the bullet wound in her clothing and then smear along the shower wall as her body slides down it.
  • While doing a TV reporting assignment, Bridget is instructed to dress in a mini-skirt and then slide down a fire pole. As she does, she runs butt-first into the camera, knocking down the cameraman and giving everyone a close-up shot of her panties.
  • Mad about a past problem between them, Mark punches Daniel in the face and then does so again. Daniel then seems to call a truce, but then uses a trash can lid to hit Daniel over the head. The two then struggle/fight on the street (in a scene that's played for laughs rather than seriousness or suspense, although they do hurt each other). The fight then makes its way into a restaurant where the two struggle on a table with one kicking the other in the gut or groin. Mark then punches Daniel in the face again and Daniel then drives Mark out through the storefront window where they land on the street amid the broken glass. Mark then punches Daniel once again and the fight is over.



  • Reviewed March 29, 2001 / Posted April 13, 2001

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