Movie Review Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy

Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy 

Directed by Michael Morris

Written by Helen Fielding, Dan Mazar, Abi Morgan

Starring Renee Zellweger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Hugh Grant, Leo Woodall 

Release Date February 13th, 2025

Published February 15th, 2025 

Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy is shockingly good. Admittedly, I had extremely low expectations for this late period sequel about Bridget as a single mom, several years into grieving the loss of her beloved husband, Mark Darcy. What a wonderful surprise then to find that the film felt remarkably authentic, warm hearted, and highly reminiscent of the charming first chapter of this film series. Renee Zellweger has such a remarkable handle on this character today that even two decades later, instead of feeling like a perfunctory attempt to further capitalize a well known property, Zellweger's performance in Mad About the Boy is one I can’t help but fall in love with. 

Five years ago as this story begins, Mark Darcy died while on a humanitarian trip in Africa. He leaves behind Bridget and their two lovely children, Billy (Casper Knopf) and Mabel (Mila Jankovic). As a trio, they are doing okay. Bridget may rarely get out of her PJ’s but she is a wonderful, supportive, and loving mom. But, it has been five years, perhaps it is time for Bridget to get back into the world. Perhaps she needs to go back to work? Perhaps it’s time for her to start dating again.

Click here for my full length review. 

Movie Review You, Me & Her

You, Me, and Her 

Directed by Dan Levy Degerman

Written by Selina Ringel 

Starring Selina Ringel, Graham Sibley, Sydney Park 

Release Date February 14th, 2025 

Published February 16th, 2025 

You, Me and Her stars Selina Ringel and Ritesh Rajan as a married couple, Mags and Ash. Mags is the breadwinner, working a high powered job for her demanding father. Ash meanwhile is a stay at home dad and budding marijuana entrepreneur. The couple is struggling with Mags having to carry most of the load while Ash plays video games and shirks what few responsibilities he has. He’s a good dad but for Mags, he’s often like having another kid to raise as he is often hiding from his long term, unsuccessful attempts to get his business off the ground.

After a series of scenes demonstrate the various ways that Mags and Ash aren’t communicating and the ways their marriage is suffering, Ash hatches a plan. Ash has booked them a vacation at a Mexican resort where Mags’ parents had taken her as a child. It’s a costly trip and Mags is quite curious how Ash is able to afford it, but she really needs to get away for a bit, so she tries her best to go with the flow. Once in Mexico, their problems communicating follow them with Ash distracted by trying to find weed to buy and Mags growing further frustrated by his inattention to her.

Click here for my full length review. 

Classic Movie Review Heavyweights

Heavyweights 

Directed by Steven Brill 

Written by Judd Apatow, Steven Brill

Starring Ben Stiller, Paul Feig, Tom McGowan

Release Date February 17th, 1995 

Published February 17th, 2025 

Heavyweights is an oft-forgotten entry in the canon of live action Disney features. The film was made possible by the surprise success of The Mighty Ducks and used members of the cast of that film, already under contract to Disney, as a way to further capitalize on that success. The film centers on a camp for overweight kids who will have to overcome a needless obstacle on the way to a simpleminded conclusion that involves learning to ‘be yourself’ or some other such nonsense platitude. 

Despite seeing names like Ben Stiller, Judd Apatow, and Paul Feig involved in Heavyweights, I was skeptical of the film. The 90s weren’t exactly known for being sensitive and jokes about overweight children were not off limits by any stretch. Thus, I set the bar pretty low at just hoping the young actors in Heavyweights would not be repeatedly humiliated, shamed, or otherwise bullied for comic effect. What a surprise then to find a film that was genuinely sensitive, cared deeply for these young characters and their struggle, and was not simply a series of humiliations intended as comedy.

Click here for my full length review.