Bridget Jones's Diary/The Edge of Reason/Bridget Jones's Baby - Sharon Maguire [DVD]

Triple bill of films based on the Helen Fielding novels. 'Bridget Jones's Diary' (2001) introduces Bridget (Renée Zellweger), the 1990s British everywoman: single, weight-obsessed, and very probably drunk on mid-price white wine. Her life goes from middling to worse when she embarks on a doomed affair with silver-tongued boss Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). In the background lurks Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), a seemingly cold lawyer who keeps crossing Bridget's path but whose precise intentions seem hard for her to divine. All the while Bridget records her lurches across life's highway in the eponymous diary, as an attempt to take control of her life. In 'Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason' (2004), having finally found the perfect man in lawyer Mark Darcy, 30-something ex-singleton Bridget is now faced with the even bigger challenge of keeping him. When her self-doubts return and her womanising ex-lover Daniel Cleaver reappears uninvited, Bridget gets entangled in a comic mix of bad advice, miscommunications and total disasters that could only happen to her. Finally, in 'Bridget Jones's Baby' (2016), following her break-up with Mark Darcy, Bridget decides to focus on her career as a top news producer while also attempting to enjoy the single life with friends. Her love life takes another turn when she meets suave American Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey), who helps her out after getting into a spot of bother at a music festival. With a new relationship flourishing and everything seemingly under control, it's not long before there's a hitch - she discovers she's pregnant. Unsure if the father is long-term love interest Darcy, or newcomer Qwant, Bridget is yet again faced with making some awkward and ultimately life-changing decisions.