This year we saw the return of Renee Zellweger as the incredibly British Bridget Jones and of course that meant that I would have to refresh my memory on the previous films before I could watch the new one. The result… another ranking!

All four of the Bridget Jones movies are based on books by Helen Fielding. But the release order and adaptation speed of those books is rather peculiar.

Fielding’s books were published in this sequence:

• Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996)
• Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2001)
• Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2013)
• Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016)

The films however arrived in this sequence:

• Bridget Jones’s Baby (2001)
• Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
• Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016)
• Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025)

The films are of course in chronological order – something that I am sure Zellweger was happy with. Which will account for why we had to wait twelve years between the book release and film release of Mad About the Boy. Interestingly the film of Bridget Jones’s Baby arrived on screens a few weeks before the book came out in stores which is perhaps even more fascinating given Hugh Grant opted out of the film resulting in the film and book being the furthest apart in terms of adaptation.

As far as creative duties in writing and directing the films have had very little through line. Fielding’s friend Sharon Maguire whom the character Shazza (Sally Phillips) is based on directed the first and third films. But the second and fourth were directed by Beeban Kidron and Michael Morris. As far as writing duties go Richard Curtis and Andrew Davies took the duties on the first two films before Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson took over for the third. For the fourth film Mazer continued but this time with Abi Morgan. I guess the thought process was that with strong source material the writing would speak for itself even with different screenwriters.

The cast however have mostly stood firm throughout with Hugh Grant bowing out of the third film the main missing piece of the puzzle.

So lets get ranking. If you want to read my individual reviews for each film check out the below links. Otherwise I will assume you have seen them from this point and are prepared for spoilers.

• Bridget Jones’s Diary
• Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason
• Bridget Jones’s Baby
• Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy

4. Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason (2004)

Oh dear. Apart from the obvious quick turnaround time to make the most of the original film’s success this film really needed more time to percolate in the writing room. Next to nothing happens that is of any value.

Pros:

• Bridget leading a group of female prisoners in a rendition of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”
• Hugh Grant and Renee Zellweger’s chemistry

Cons:

• Very little of the film is coherent – the reasons for Bridget and Mark breaking up are laughable and barely explored
• Relies heavily on slapstick and misunderstandings
• Have I said that it is awful?

3. Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016)

Hugh Grant opting out of this film comes close to making it not really feel like a Bridget Jones movie. Patrick Dempsey has an incredibly hard act to follow and frankly the result for me is that Bridget might be better just choosing neither suitor.

Pros:

• Sharon Maguire returns to direct and gets Bridget back on track with a lot of help from…
• Emma Thompson joins as co-writer and as Bridget’s doctor – the funniest scenes involve her

Cons:

• Patrick Dempsey’s character “Jack” is generally unlikeable and smug with little redeeming qualities aside from being attractive and seemingly wealthy
• When Bridget Jones choice is Mark Darcy or Jack you wonder why she bothers at all
• An horrendous and overlong cameo from Ed Sheeran
• It just does not feel like Bridget Jones without Hugh Grant

2. Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

The original and best… well not any more. But where would we be without this entry and Renee Zellweger’s iconic performance.

Pros:

• Renee Zellweger’s Oscar nominated performance
• The introduction of “oh my God” in a plummy English accent and those gigantic figure controlling pants
• Hugh Grant’s caddish Daniel Cleaver
• It is a breezy 97 minutes long

Cons:

• Is Mark Darcy the wettest romantic interest ever created for a romantic comedy?
• The laughable and slightly damaging idea that Bridget was overweight

1. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (2025)

Obviously this film could not be the success that it is without the characters built across the other films, but it is a pleasure to see the fourth film in a franchise do something different enough that it actually steps up as the best film yet.

Pros:

• Renee Zellweger at this point completely embodies Bridget Jones and is thoroughly superb at portraying her
• It opts for relationships playing out organically rather than vying its male leads against each other
• Both of the new male leads have chemistry with Bridget and offer different things
• Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant make the film hilarious
• Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth make it heartfelt
• Farce exists in the right quantities with humour based on things other than Bridget just falling over or getting into excruciating social situations

Cons:

• Stands on the shoulders of the other movies – you may need some memory of those to get maximum enjoyment here
• There are clearly two storylines edited from the film in Bridget’s neighbour (Isla Fisher) and nanny (Nico Parker) characters and it creates a minor clunkiness

So where would you rank each film?

I may not be converted into a Bridget Jones fan but I am glad that I rewatched them to get a better appreciation of the fourth (and possibly final) film in the franchise.