Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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OCTOBER 12-18, 2016 UCW 23 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Mildy Enjoyable Bridget Jones's Baby (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS This review of Bridget Jones's Baby (123 minutes) must begin by discussing the huge controversy surrounding the film. No, not the rumors about star Renee Zellweger's plastic surgery — that's both inconsequential and sexist. And besides, I thought she looked great. No, I'm talking about grammar. I cut my teeth on the Associated Press Style, so the plural possessive for Bridget Jones should be Jones'. Whoever titled the film followed the Chicago style, and used Jones's. Every time I see that crime against nature a single tear trickles down my cheek. It's just … so … wrong. Crimes against grammar aside, Emma Thompson's scripting at least gives the characters something to do. Bridget Jones (Zellweger) and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) aren't together at the beginning of the film. The story of their relationship always revolved around the personality differences that rendered them fundamentally incompatible, so no shock there. It is a little bit disappointing that we are forced to sit through a third variation of Bridget making wacky mistakes and Mark being emotionally frigid while a third party interferes with their romantic destiny, but every script needs a conflict, I guess. The film begins with an older and (at least theoretically) wiser Bridget attending the memorial of Daniel Cleaver. He had to die because Hugh Grant couldn't be bothered to do a third film, but he couldn't be unambiguously dead in case the third film makes a lot of money and they want to bring him back. Thus, the character is only presumed dead. There, we are reintroduced to Mark Darcy and his wife, Nameless Obstacle to the Happiness of the Female Star. Tired of showing minimal personal growth and being a character whose entire life revolves around whether or not Mark Darcy is the hero or villain of her love life, Bridget goes on holiday with her friend Miranda (Sarah Solemani). The two end up celebrating her birthday at a music festival instead of getting drunk at a haunted pub, like sensible people do. There, Bridget meets McDreamy himself, Jack (Patrick Dempsey). Who I never saw on Grey's Anatomy, but will remember forever as the awkward nerd who got the hot blonde chick to hang out with him to make him seem cool in 1987's Can't Buy Me Love. Spoiler Alert: It turns out you CAN buy love. Bridget returns from the getaway with new confidence, which might help to explain how she falls right back into bed with Mark Darcy. At least she is sensible enough to remember that he is essentially the same person he has always been, and divorce rebound will not cause him to suddenly reprioritize his life so that work comes second. Then, in the exact week that Bridget is finally happy with her weight, she finds out she is pregnant. At age 43. How interesting that the story avoided identifying all the ways that older mothers are devalued, isolated and stigmatized in favor of lighthearted wackiness, like Bridget getting her doctor to lie to men on her behalf because it wouldn't be a Bridget Jones movie without Bridget making stuff up for no apparent reason. Overall, I think it was the right call to base the third film around the older Helen Fielding columns instead of the third book, Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy. I read it hoping for more lighthearted, madcap adventures, and instead got a middle age meltdown. In other words, the third book was a bummer, man. The third film is a bit more lively when compared to the book, even if the characters I once enjoyed were pasted into a by-the-numbers-pregnancy-rom-com. Now showing at Patriot 14 + IMAX. HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. $i. 50 Drink, Every Day, All Day! $i. 50 Drink, Every Day, All Day! $i. 50 Popcorn. Every Day All Day! $i. 50 Popcorn. Every Day All Day! $i. 50 Popcorn. Every Day All Day! $i. 50 Drinks. Every Day, All Day! $i. 50 Drinks. Every Day, All Day! $i. 50 Drinks. Every Day, All Day! $2.00 before 6:00 p.m. $3.00 after 6:00 p.m. $1.00 extra for 3D MOVIES Movie Monday: $1.50 All Day(Holiday or 3D movies excluded) Individual Tickets $75 FSU Box Office at Seabrook Auditorium or Call 910-672-1734 Zoot Suits and Harlem Vogue Encouraged! Saturday, November 5, 2016 7:00 p.m. Rudolph Jones Student Center For Sponsorship Info: Thbrothers@uncfsu.edu or (910) 672-1349 An Evening of Harlem Renaissance Jazz and Dance W. T. Brown Drive Enter campus via Murchison Rd or Langdon St. onto MLK Jr. Drive