Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) is now forty-three years old, single again and juggling her usual neuroses with a career and dating. The only major change is that she is now happy with her weight. This instalment finds her pregnant and unsure of which partner is the father. 

The crux of the plot is that Bridget has relations with new suitor Jack (Patrick Dempsey) and her forever ex-boyfriend Mark (Colin Firth) within a couple weeks of each other before discovering she is pregnant. The plot then follows Bridget getting into her usual awkward social interactions whilst Jack and Mark try to one-up each other as Bridget is carrying the baby and trying to decide who is the man for her. 

There are three major additions/changes to the cast and creatives involved here that have a significant impact on the film. 

Firstly, the book (again by Helen Fielding) has Bridget’s two suitors continue to be Daniel (Hugh Grant) and Mark. But Grant did not want to return for this feature resulting in them inserting a news story that his character is missing presumed dead and adding Patrick Dempsey’s Jack. Who quite frankly makes Colin Firth’s Mark look dynamic. It’s a huge loss for the film but at least makes Bridget’s love interest from the first two films look good. 

Secondly, Emma Thompson joins as a co-writer and as the doctor who attends to Bridget’s pregnancy. Her addition is a boon and the sequences where she is giving advice to Bridget are the best in the film. 

Thirdly, director of the first film Sharon Maguire returns here after skipping the sequel. The result feels as though Bridget’s essence has returned. 

Overall this is an improvement on 2004’s The Edge of Reason but the addition of Jack really hamstrings the overall enjoyment.