Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy film review — merry widow charms the pants off young hunk

She's so like Bridget in that she is so warm and kind. There's a gentleness about her, and it's real. There's nothing made up about that,

Fielding told Newsweek in early February

She's trying to find her way through grief and starting over,

Zellweger said

I warmed to her because she reflected my own sort of chaos." ... as played by Renée, she has become like a real person."

Even Morris sees a bit of himself in Jones ... And to him

Fans of Bridget Jones can love this film, and love all of the things that are familiar, but also feel very connected to how she's evolved and how the story evolves,

said Zellweger's co-star, Ejiofor

Renée Zellwegeractor

I'm a fan of Bridget Jones.... That I share that with so many people is a really cool thing,

Renée Zellweger told Newsweek in an exclusive interview

It did change things, where people on the street say hello,

Zellweger said about the overnight success of Bridget Jones's Diary

No one knows [Bridget Jones] better than Renée,

Mad About the Boy director Michael Morris told Newsweek

Once Renée started playing the role, it all merged together,

she said

Mark died four years ago and Bridget’s not out buying clothes. She’s struggling to keep it together, which is one of the reasons why nothing (in her life) looks new,

Rowe said

We could create the idea of what Mark Darcy might have been wearing at home with Bridget and the kids, which is not something you ever see on screen.”

For Rowe, it also added a nuanced perspective that wasn’t part of the script

The original ones no longer exist, so we had to recreate them,

explained Rowe

Bridget has some nice clothes, and she tries her best, but she sort-of always gets it a bit wrong. There’s always something a little bit off, whether it’s the fit, or the pattern or color clashing,

she told CNN over a phone call

I like you just the way you are."

Re-imagined as a dream man for a new millennium, he made a generation of women feel seen when he told Bridget

Renée Zellwegeractor

I don't find it toxic, in my opinion

But in a new interview, Renee has hit back at the woke commentary surrounding her character insisting

For years and years we've seen Hollywood show men 40 years older than their partners, and it's not even discussed

Speaking to The Sunday Times, she added

And she's cute and there's nothing at all wrong with her or her experiences or where she is,

she added,

I really wanted to smash the idea with this movie that there's a sexual sell-by-date for women and not for men, and stick it to the awful cougar stereotype

Speaking ahead of the film's release this week on Valentine's Day, Helen, 66, said