Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy Film Review

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is charming, funny and full of heart, making it the perfect send-off to our dear friend, Bridget Jones.

In the years following, we saw the continuation of her torrid love life in Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason and watched Bridget become a mother in Bridget Jones’s Baby. In the final installment of the Bridget Jones saga, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Michael Morris captures the magic intertwined in the first Bridget Jones film to give our dear friend the perfect send-off. 

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy picks up nine years after we last saw Bridget (Renée Zellweger, of Judy) welcome her first child into the world and marry her long-time love Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth, of Empire of Light). In the subsequent years, the pair have been raising their two children, Billy (Casper Knopf) and Mabel (Mila Jankovic), until tragedy struck.  Four years before the events of the movie, Mr. Darcy was killed in Sudan on a work trip, leaving Bridget to raise their children alone. 

While Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy ends the Mr. Darcy chapter of Bridget’s life, it does happen to bring back the beloved Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, of Heretic) in a strictly platonic sense. Daniel, found alive after the mysterious plane crash that marked him dead in Bridget Jones’s Baby, is still stuck in his playboy ways but worried about Bridget. It’s been four years since Mr. Darcy passed and Bridget has not been able to fully recover from his loss.

Since his death, Bridget has left her job to become a full-time mom, but the pressure of being the perfect parent without a partner by her side is eating her alive. To make matters worse, she is constantly comparing herself to the effortlessly put-together mothers at Billy and Mabel’s school, who seem to all be in on the secret of how to be a perfect parent. Even Billy’s science teacher, Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor, of Venom: The Last Dance), seems to be annoyingly perfect at his job. 

Daniel and all her other familiar friends urge her to take control of her life and, most importantly, put herself back out there. When Bridget begrudgingly agrees, she meets the beautiful, adonis-like park ranger Roxster (Leo Woodall, of The White Lotus). While Bridget is initially deeply self-conscious of the 22-year age gap, she allows herself to give Roxster a chance and slowly, yet surely begins to reawaken a part of herself that has been dormant for the past four years. 

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is everything long-time Bridget Jones fans could have asked for in the conclusion of her saga. It’s witty, clever and referential without being overbearing. The film nods to key moments in the Bridget Jones world in ways that are subtle enough to invoke a sense of nostalgia from audiences while also propelling our heroine’s character development forward. 

This movie is by far the sexiest in the entire Bridget Jones saga, largely due to the addition of the character Roxster and his relationship with Bridget. The sexy moments are reminiscent of early 2000s romantic comedies which have a magic that modern rom-coms seem to not be able to invoke as effectively. With one scene in particular, Roxster emerges from a pool in a completely soaked white dress shirt after saving a puppy, it feels that magic has finally returned to our screens. 

On a deeper level, Bridget’s relationship with Roxster is essential to understanding her in this new, uncharted point in her life. After being a dedicated mother and loving wife, she finds herself at a point in her life where she can return to focusing on herself for the first in a very long time. With her kids at an age where she isn’t constantly holding her breath while caring for them, as well as the new employment of her virtually flawless nanny Chloe (Nico Parker, of The Last of Us), and four years after the passing of Mr. Darcy, Bridget can finally start thinking about what she wants. 

In being with Roxster, Bridget feels a spark that reignites her soul. We meet Bridget at the beginning of this film in a place we’ve never seen her before. She is no longer the unlucky-in-love young girl we’ve always known her as but a woman who has suffered the loss of the love of her life and is struggling to stay afloat because of it. Everyone in her life is telling her she needs to start living again, but she still grieves so deeply. She has no clue how to navigate this loss personally, much less as a parent. 

The concept of “the woman who can do it all” haunts her. She wants to go back to work, but also be a doting parent and simultaneously be able to be selfish with her time on occasion. There are so many expectations that fall onto her about who she should be and how she should take control of her life that, no matter what she does, she feels like it is never enough. This version of Bridget is the most raw and sincere we have seen her since her first film. 

In Bridget Jones’s Diary, people fell in love with Bridget because she decided it didn’t matter what others thought she should be; she was going to stay true to herself because she was perfect just the way she was. This is the message, told to her by Mr.Darcy, that has driven this film series forward. Be yourself because you are perfect just the way you are. Even though over the years it is a lesson she has had to relearn time and time again, that’s what made her story relatable. 

At every point in life, the expectations of who you think you should be will exist. They differ greatly from decade to decade of your life, but the answer always remains the same. There is no one and nothing you should be besides yourself, because, if you stay true to you, the rest has a way of falling into place. 

Aging with Bridget Jones has been a privilege. She is so much more than a fictional flouncy, silly girl but a reminder of the power of staying true to who you are.  She’s someone you can revisit in various stages throughout your life and relate to more and more each time. 

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is the sendoff our friend Bridget absolutely deserves. Heartfelt, touching, sexy and always funny, the conclusion to Bridget’s story will give you hope for the future. She will always stand as a reminder that as long as you stay true to yourself, the rest will sort itself out. 

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will be released on Peacock in the US, and in cinemas in the UK & Ireland, in Europe and worldwide on February 13, 2025.