"Bridget Jones's Diary" - SPOILER ALERT

I bought this movie years ago thinking I would enjoy it. At that time, I watched just a small part of it and was completely turned off by the vulgar language. So, thinking I would never want to watch the entire movie, I donated it to the library.

Fast forward to 2020 when I discovered "Pride and Prejudice", which has turned out to be one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite, movies of all time (and the mini series is even better). After watching that movie and mini series, I set out to watch every adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" (and the book is on my reading list as well). So of course, I had to watch "Bridget Jones's Diary".

I decided to watch this early in the year, because it seemed like it would be a good New Year's movie.  I love that Colin Firth played Mark Darcy. He was amazing as Mr. Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice" and I loved him in "Bridget Jones's Diary" as well, although I question his taste in women in the latter.

From the beginning and through the end of the movie, I did not like the character of Bridget Jones. She is almost as immature as Sam is in "Sixteen Candles", except Bridget is twice Sam's age. Bridget is vulgar and her priorities are mostly misguided - losing weight (it didn't seem like she was overweight to me and if she was, it wasn't by much), stopping smoking (okay, so that is a great goal), her job (a legitimate goal as well), and finding love (okay, but she should first focus on loving herself). And her mother isn't any better. She is racist just like Sam's mother is in "Sixteen Candles". Cue comment about Japanese being a "very cruel race". This movie was released in the 21st century. We should not still be in a place where scripts like that are acceptable.

"Bridget Jones" was released after the BBC mini series for "Pride and Prejudice", but before the 2005 movie, but I'm glad I watched both of those before "Bridget Jones". I was able to recognize the similarities and enjoy that aspect of it.  

On another positive note, the final scene was nearly perfect. I love a good happy ending, especially on the streets of a snow-filled town. If only it weren't for the language! It seems as though Bridget Jones had a bigger impact on Mark Darcy than the other way around, unfortunately.

After watching it in its entirety, I have no regrets about giving it up. I think it had great potential, but because of the racist remark, constant cursing, Bridget Jones' misguided priorities that never seemed to change, and in my opinion, the misrepresentation of 30 something single women, it failed to score high on my list. 

I may give Bridget Jones another chance with the sequel in due time and I've already started reading the book, Bridget Jone's Diary. We will see if my opinion of her changes.