Macclesfield-based film critic James Burgess shares his review of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, which has sold out Cinemac twice since arriving on Thursday.

Helen Fielding created Bridget Jones anonymously, as a weekly column in The Independent.

The first novel, Bridget Jones's Diary, went to the top of every bestseller list, becoming a fully deserved phenomenon, thanks also to the 2001 film of the same name.

Due to Renee Zellweger's pitch-perfect casting, once Oscar-nominated as everyone's favourite flawed singleton in her thirties, the unlikeliest of franchises spawned - or rather stretched out - three ever-diminishing sequels.

This latest is especially disappointing, given how terrifically sharp, funny, quick-witted and expertly written Richard Curtis's and Fielding's BAFTA-nominated screenplay for that first film, was.

Its secret, was to emphasise putting Bridget in a series of hilariously embarrassing, out-of-her control circumstances. These included bunny-girl outfits, unsuspectingly answering the phone to her mother while in a compromising position, making the most awkward introductory speech imaginable at a book launch party, or listening to a unique variation on romantic poetry, on a boating weekend…!

It's precisely these sort of set pieces, neatly dovetailed by Bridget's own interior, fantasy narration of embarrassment, that's almost entirely absent from this latest instalment.

Simply, it has nothing that's approaching being anywhere near as funny, sharply written, strong or memorable enough as the first one is. None of them have been – it just can't be replicated.

Renee Zellweger returns to the iconic role (Credit: IMDB/Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy)

This is in no small part due to the profoundly odd choice to kill off her husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) for no reason whatsoever. This leaves our protagonist struggle to raise two small children – neither of whom act particularly well, either.

That attempt to potentially examine deeper themes of loss or grief, is so over-ladled and manipulatively sentimentalised, that it just becomes sad, depressing, and oddly directionless.

This meandering tone, is because the best man for Zellweger to play opposite, was always Firth. He's predictably seen as a ghostly, warm memory, in intermittent moments which are designed to be poignant, but just come across as mawkish.

The choices made become increasingly misjudged, as Bridget is very suddenly dating a 29-year-old called Roxster (just in case we'd forgotten he was much younger).

He's forever taking his top off in slow-motion to Dinah Washington's song of the title, rescuing people up trees, or dogs from pools - the ultra-cliched personification of the handsome saviour. But Leo Woodall and Zellweger have absolutely no plausible connection.

The same unfortunately goes for her tacked-on relationship with Chiwetel Ejiofor, wasted in the role of a teacher. Cue cookie-cutter pressures of competing with perfect mums at the school gates.

Chiwetel Ejiofor is 'wasted' (Credit: IMDB/Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy)

So many of the supporting cast aren't given anything to do at all. Gemma Jones as Bridget's Mum, once such a vital part of so much of the comedy, is given next to nothing. Bridget's friends also don't feature nearly enough. Instead, there are a non-descript, unfunny and unlikeable clutch of new and returning TV studio colleagues.

Even an aged-looking Hugh Grant is reluctantly resurrected. His roguish playboy's antics have never been more tiredly jarring, particularly in a completely flat note where we're actually supposed to feel sorry for him.

Thank goodness for Emma Thompson as the doctor, who literally has two scenes – with the only two lines that are mildly funny – barring blue-soup cocktails and returning reindeer jumpers!

To add insult, not only is it going straight to streaming in the U.S. - a montage of snapshots and scenes from the first one also plays over the end credits, so you go out reminiscing about how funny it all used to be!

RATING: * *

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will be screened twice daily at Cinemac until at least February 25 (Credit: IMDB/Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy)

Macclesfield resident James Burgess is an actor and film critic with a master's degree in Film Studies.

Follow him on X - @Jamesfilmcritic

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy arrived at Cinemac on Thursday, February 13, and has already had two sold out screenings.

It will be screened at Cinemac until at least February 26, with tickets available at www.cinemac.org.uk.