Critics Welcome Back Renee Zellweger Warmly In 'Bridget Jones's Baby'

Bridget Jones’s Baby has been praised by critics following its premiere on Monday, with most agreeing it was a welcome return to form for Renee Zellweger’s character. It’s been 12 years since we last saw Bridget on our screens and this time she’s approaching 40, pregnant and trying to work out who the baby’s father is.

Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones Bridget Jones is back in Bridget Jones’s Baby

Writing in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw told fans the new film was better than Bridget’s last outing, 2004’s The Edge of Reason. He describes the film as “something resembling a likeable, good-natured one-off TV holiday special.”

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In The Sun Jamie East writes: “The third in the Bridget Jones series has everything we love about her films. Nearly all the cast is back, jokes are razor-sharp and cultural references are on point.” While The Mirror’s David Edwards told fans to “make sure you watch this at all costs”.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Leslie Felperin was less charmed by Bridget’s return, remarking that there seems to be “something dead” in the eyes of Renee Zellweger.

“The character herself floats through the film, barely interested in the men battling for her love, barely interested in her baby, suffused with a can’t-be-arsed lassitude that deflates the whole film,” Felperin added.

Alongside Zellweger, Colin Firth is also back and Patrick Dempsey appears as new love interest Jack. But noticeably missing is Hugh Grant, who played Daniel Cleaver in the first two films, the boyfriend fans loved to hate.

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Variety’s Catherine Bray wrote that Grant’s absence “is certainly felt.” Bray added that, “Bridget Jones’s Baby” is not a comedy for the ages, but it’s interesting to see a rom-com starring a middle-aged woman grappling with irrelevance in the workplace.”