When I went to an early Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy screening a couple of weeks ago everyone around me was weeping. It wasn’t just the odd subtle tear being wiped away when no one was looking; the film was soundtracked by unselfconscious snotty gulps, little mewls that accompanied gasps for breath and people fumbling around in bags for tissues. 

You don’t get that when watching The Brutalist, do you? 

It was the content of the fourth visit to the Bridget Jones cinematic universe that triggered the sobs: witnessing someone seeing their husband’s ghost, for example, is always a mood dampener. But there’s something about the Bridgetness of it all that allowed the audience (75% women, at a rough estimate) to feel and express those emotions fully, in a way that they might feel like they’d need to hide if they weren’t wrapped up in her comfort blanket. There’s something reassuring about watching someone who messes up, who’s messy and says the wrong things at the wrong time yet is aware of that and still keeps on trying – it lets us all feel a little looser; it lets us breathe out. 

What I’m saying is, I loved it.

I think we can all agree that the second and third films in the franchise did Bridget a little dirty. But number four, the final one in the series, has much of the same magic as the first iteration. Even better, there are lots of lovely callbacks (or what people now call Easter eggs) to Bridget Jones’s Diary, from a date night scene in Borough Market where Bridget had that first flat to drinking bright blue cocktails to replicate the famous blue string soup she served at a dinner party.  There’s also a brilliant nod to Colin Firth’s wet shirt scene in Pride And Prejudice involving an ornamental pond and a dog that can’t swim.

We rejoin Renée Zellweger’s Bridget as she’s juggling two children under 10 with returning to work and grappling with parenting and dating apps – not to mention ending up in a love triangle with a handsome gardener 20 years her junior (the improbably named Roxster, played by Leo Woodall) and an uptight science teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor). 

But it’s the deep grief that sits on her like a brick after the death of Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) four years ago that provides the film’s emotional gut punch. Bridget has to endure painful dinner parties with friends asking her about dating (a reminder of how little society has evolved since Helen Fielding first wrote Bridget Jones’s Diary in 1996) while still working out who she is, how she wants her life to look and whether she’s ready to put herself through the pain of opening herself up again. 

It’s a surprisingly pertinent reminder that you can achieve everything you think you should – all the milestones we hold ourselves so accountable for – and life still isn’t perfect. You’re not instantly granted a lifetime of happiness because you’ve finally won the ‘ultimate prize’ of a husband and children. It’s also a reminder that women can be – and are – sexual beings past the age of 30.

There are plenty of familiar faces in the cast, including her gaggle of pals (played by Sally Phillips, James Callis and Shirley Henderson), her dad (Jim Broadbent), her mum (Gemma Jones) and Emma Thompson as her gynaecologist. Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) is also back – despite the funeral held for him in Bridget Jones’s Baby – and I was surprised by the tenderness of his relationship with Bridget (alongside the odd inappropriate comment). He babysits her kids, and she’s the only one there for him when he ends up in hospital. He admits, at great pains, that he’s been unable to form bonds with anyone, even his son. As so often happens when life changes someone so irrevocably, there is forgiveness available for those who let us down. Or perhaps there’s a recognition of the loneliness and sadness in one another.  

As with many romcoms, there is a certain amount of disbelief that needs to be suspended; I spent far too much of the film thinking about what sort of will Darcy must have left Bridget for her to be able to afford a nanny and huge house in Hampstead (I’ve just checked Rightmove and you’re looking at £5 million), but don’t let that put you off. Besides, most of us know what it’s like to be trying to date in a one-bedroom flat with damp on the windows – we don’t need to see it on screen too. 

Ultimately there’s so much heart and magic in Bridget Jones 4.0, you’ll enjoy every second. Just make sure you’re also ready for your most cathartic cry of 2025. 

If you want more Bridge, the newly launched Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Official Podcast is the place to be. Presented by Pandora Sykes, each episode will explore a unique aspect of her appeal and includes chats with Renée Zellweger,  Helen Fielding, Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Listen here. 

Images: Universal Pictures