Bridget Jones's Baby

When I was a boy my sister and I took it upon ourselves to deface our mother's DVD collection. To this day many remain marked with the same inscriptions.. 'Sexy Colin', 'Sexy Regency Colin', 'Sexy in a fountain Colin' You get the idea; Colin Firth is equally important to both her and us. I think it's fair to say we've been somewhat enamoured with him for the past twenty one years, or rather Mr Darcy in particular. Perhaps this is part of the allure that Bridget Jones provides, another chance to gawk once more at that one fleeting individual - if that is so, then it's a rather flimsy excuse as Bridget Jones the franchise stands on it's own two feet, and it stands tall.

If you've seen the previous two instalments then you know roughly what to expect. Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) is now middle-aged, once more single and embarking on new territory for the series - newly pregnant, a necessary change that reinvigorates a franchise that would otherwise find it difficult to go further under the previously used formula. Aside from its main diversion, it maintains the previous instalments' core elements. Bridget is surrounded by a cadre of highly amusing friends and pursued once more by two handsome and desirable suitors. Not returning however is Hugh Grant's Daniel Cleaver whose absence, while humorously referenced, is sorely missed leaving a Mr Wickham shaped hole in the story that new love interest Jack Quant (Patrick Dempsey) can't quite fill. This difference in character creates a new dichotomy with series regular Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) who returns once more, raising heart rates amongst much of the country as he returns to a role he has inhabited for over two decades. Dempsey and Firth play off well against each other, each offering something similar yet fundamentally different in the ongoing war for Bridget's affections.