Growing up in the 2000s, the Bridget Jones series was the ultimate comfort movie for me. To this day, I still giggle with family and friends about the scary scenes of Bridget climbing back up a fire pole on national television and the hilarious fights in the fountains between her love interests.
When I learned that more Bridgets were on the way, I was initially excited…until I found out which book by author Helen Fielding was being adapted. And unfortunately, the film’s freshly released first trailer confirmed my fears once and for all.
Spoilers for Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy below
The fourth installment of the series will bring back the friendly, lovable and clumsy Bridget Jones in all her glory, with Renée Zellweger in the title role. However, her one true love, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), was killed four years before filming this new film while working on a humanitarian mission in Sudan, according to Variety’s official synopsis.
The film’s first trailer confirms that our romantic comedy heroine navigates life as a widow and mother to two young children, Billy and Mabel. We see Bridget imagining her late husband at her side and discussing how much she misses him with her daughter.
There will always be romance of course – the footage shows Bridget returning to the dating scene with a 29-year-old boy, played by Leo Woodall.
Don’t get me wrong, exploring a complex love life after losing your soulmate is a nuanced story to tell, especially when the father leaves behind a family unit…but that’s not what I want watch Bridget Jones.
These movies are my virtual fuzzy blankets and cups of cocoa during the winter months. Many people dream of finding their own Mark Darcy, standing in the snow and accepting him for who they are – although perhaps we would all agree that we wouldn’t be clad in just our britches for this part like Bridget.
A Complex Love Life After Losing Your Soulmate Is A Nuanced Story To Tell… But That’s Not Why I Want To Watch Bridget Jones
Even though many parts of the original two films have not aged well – particularly the aspects relating to Bridget’s weight and her sexually harassing “uncle” – the main love story has always held up. to this day.
The three films in the franchise, Bridget Jones, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Bridget Jones’s Baby spent all that time building the strongest possible romance between the two, overcoming the lies of the dastardly Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant ) and the charms of Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey) to achieve an endgame that many of us dream of.
I feel extremely shallow saying this, but killing Mark feels like an insult to this perfectly crafted story. I completely accept that Fielding challenges our view of what a happy ending looks like, and some may want to see how that plays out – but right now I can’t feel excited about a story that will make me sad. Many readers of the series agreed, as this 2013 BBC article shows.
All is not dark for the fourth Bridget Jones. Daniel Cleaver is back on the scene – he was absent from the third film because Hugh Grant was having filming conflicts because of Paddington 2 (and it’s true, he was brilliant at that).
We’ll also see the return of his supportive and often scathing friends Shazzer, Jude and Tom, his nosy mother and cheeky father, as well as the outspoken Dr. Rawlings, played by the brilliant Emma Thompson. And of course, Mark Darcy will always be present – but I suppose mainly through flashbacks and figments of Bridget’s active imagination.
If it meets all your expectations, then all the power to you. Mad About the Boy will debut on the American streaming platform Peacock on February 13, 2025, but it will not receive a cinematic release in the United States. However, movie fans around the world (including the UK) will be able to see it on the big screen from February 14, Valentine’s Day.
As for me, I’ll be binge-watching the first three films over the holiday season, but it’ll take some time to convince myself to accept a Bridget Jones world without its Mark.
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