Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

Bridget is a single thirty two year old woman who smokes and drinks too much, struggles with her weight and has a distinct lack of men in her life. So after being introduced to the boring Mark Darcy by her mother at the annual Christmas turkey curry get together she makes a New Years resolution to take control of her life and find a man.

It doesn't take long for her plans to start working. Her boss Daniel Cleaver starts sending her suggestive e-mails and flirting with her. After playing hard to get she and Daniel soon hit it off and she finally thinks that Daniel could be the man for her. However, she keeps running into Mark Darcy and soon learns that Daniel may not be quite the perfect partner after all.

The picture is good enough with plenty of detail and colour and an above average bit-rate throughout the film. However, the outdoor scenes could have too much contrast at times but there were no signs of artifacting or outlining.

With this genre of film there isn't going to much in the line of earth shattering explosions or lasers melting aliens. The dialogue is crisp and clear, especially the narration, and it remains fixed in the centre channel without the need to keep correcting the volume. The surround channels only tend to be used by the musical score but they still mange to add an effective ambience to the film.

The menu is pleasantly animated and scored, although it takes a little too long for the introduction to finish before you can access the extras. The extras are reasonable enough and include a director's commentary, deleted scenes, music videos and an interesting and well presented behind the scenes featurette.

Adapted from Helen Fielding's best selling book and unashamedly ripped off from Austen's Pride and Prejudice, even the main male characters have the same names. It's quite an amusing romantic comedy with a great sense of British humour. Renée Zellweger is so convincing in the role that she could almost be British.

The only problem I see with this film is that it gives the impression that the only actor the UK has is Hugh Grant. However, saying that, it appears that his daft haircut and dopey eyes has the power to put bums on cinema seats in yet another romantic comedy.

Mind you, how much of an influence have the American actresses made in this and the previous successful Brit-flicks in the all important American market? A lot I'm sure. With a pay cheque surely based on the profits I'm confident Renée Zellweger will have no trouble loosing the weight she put on to appear in the film as she hauls her money to the bank.