I’m a 30-something singleton and Bridget Jones’s poignant comeback is as welcome as ever

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy sees our heroine changed – but not too much (Picture: Jay Maidment/Universal Studios)

The comeback of Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy can’t be too overstated to British cinemagoers in 2025 – she’s on a par with other cultural icons like James Bond, Harry Potter and the Beatles.

And yet there’s no one else quite like her, no female character that has managed to resonate with, and endear herself to, film fans in such a relatable way. She’s been a by-word for normalising and celebrating 30-something singledom – so what happens when she’s now a 51-year-old mother of two and widow?

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy finds Bridget (Renée Zellweger, note perfect as always) in a very different place in her life, matured into a mother but unexpectedly alone again after the tragic offscreen death of husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).

This hardly sounds like the usual beginning of a Bridget movie, but for all of Mad About the Boy’s melancholy and shifting tone she’s still the Bridget we’ve come to know and love.

She’s still swigging wine from the bottle, accidentally embarrassing herself at work with loud proclamations about her sex life and joking that she’s fed her kids hard drugs.

There have been panicked whispers ahead of this fourth film, directed by Michael Morris, regarding some of Bridget’s past behaviour being too problematic for now, as well as fears that she’s been updated and ‘wokified’ for 2025. I’m here to happily tell you that neither is a cause for concern thanks to some beautiful handling by the writing team (author and Bridget creator Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Abi Morgan).

And as someone who is now the 30-something singleton Bridget was in Bridget Jones’s Diary, I find her just as relatable in this new era as I have done before, thanks to the subtlest of tweaks.

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Previous Page Next Page Renée Zellweger’s Bridget is now a widow and single mum in her 50s, being pushed back into the dating pool after Mark Darcy’s (Colin Firth) death (Picture: Jay Maidment/Universal Studios)

It’s a well-balanced act in that, yes, she’s a departure from a few of the things she was before – namely weight and calorie obsessed – but she’s still the same awkward but robustly positive Bridge, even four years after losing the love of her life.

Mad About the Boy is made with affection and attention to the spirit of the original; the smug marrieds return to judge another day, but now, 24 years later, widow Bridget rather than single Bridget gets their nauseating sympathy.

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Another element that has remained deliciously unchanged is that of Hugh Grant’s Daniel Cleaver. He’s still a lothario in his 60s, dating inappropriately young women and making saucy comments. It’s absolutely the right decision to not have him move with the times, but there is a little backstory that works a charm in softening him to the audience. He’s also in his unexpected babysitting uncle era, and his relationship with Bridget’s kids, Billy and Mabel (the expertly-cast Casper Knopf and Mila Jankovic), is a highlight of the film.

Her kids, Billy (Casper Knopf) and Mabel (Mila Jankovic), provide some great comedy – and heartbreaking – moments (Picture: Alex Bailey/Universal Studios) Bridget finds ex-lover Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) in her corner as she undertakes the single-mum juggle and experiments with Tinder (Picture: Jay Maidment/Universal Studios)

Other returning cast don’t get quite such splendid treatment, but when top-tier British talent has appeared across three films already it can be hard to give more screentime to the likes of Celia Imrie, Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent, as well as Bridget’s friend group.

Dame Emma Thompson’s involvement is rather shoehorned in, given she’s a gynaecologist, but the script is so unapologetic about it that it works. But it’s a shame to see such blink-and-you’ll-miss-them parts for Isla Fisher, Joanna Scanlan and Claire Skinner – however it’s a testament to Bridget Jones that they’re up for it.

Meanwhile, Josette Simon, Nico Parker and Leila Farzad all join the cast, with Farzad in particular proving expert foil to Bridget as the effortlessly perfect school mum Nicolette, who enjoys snide asides at our heroine’s expense.

However, the headline new additions are Leo Woodall as 29-year-old toyboy and park worker Roxster and Chiwetel Ejiofor as uptight schoolteacher Scott Wallaker.

Leo Woodall’s Roxster enchants Bridget after rescuing her from being stuck up a tree (Picture: Alex Bailey/Universal Studios) Her other new love interest is Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Mr Wallaker (Picture: Jay Maidment/Universal Studios)

Here their roles are to sort of serve as Cleaver and Darcy stand-ins, even if their characters aren’t quite the same. It’s a very hard ask, given how fondly both these originals are regarded (for almost opposite reasons), but they are well-written and acted parts that fit seamlessly into this new part of Bridget’s life that many people didn’t expect.

The vibes are different, but they are still firmly there – and one of the best things for Bridget now is she gets to move on from being a pioneering single 30-something woman on screen into a 50-something widow having unashamedly hot sex with a man over 20 years her junior without judgement or shame. This film revels in that for her.

It also delivers a classic scene of the franchise with the ‘magical man tree’ situation between her, Roxster and Mr Wallaker, while later cheekily paying tribute to Firth’s original Mr Darcy wet shirt scene after Roxster strips off following a dog rescue at a garden party.

This is still the Bridget Jones we know and love, with all her family and friends returning (pictured with Sally Phillips as Shazzer) (Picture: Jay Maidment/Universal Studios)

Mad About the Boy might not fully fire on all cylinders throughout, sometimes lapsing into gently diverting rather than properly entertaining, but it’s hard to go back to something again after so many years away – it’s 24 since Bridget Jones’s Diary, and nine since the last film.

People may also not feel quite so fondly towards Bridget’s second and third cinematic outings in the interim, but there can be no doubt that this was absolutely the only way to bring Bridget back: in a new situation with new priorities but, reassuringly, the same Bridget.

And we still like her, just as she is.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is in UK cinemas from Thursday, February 13.

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