Bridget Jones's Baby

Over a decade after Miss Jones said "yes" to her Mr Darcy, she is alone, again, in a total hoot of a threequel, outdoing the second film by far (and almost matching the first), perhaps because the scatty diarist is carrying a lot more baggage. Renée Zellweger reprises her Oscar-nominated role with gusto, as Bridget celebrates her 43rd birthday with a cupcake and plenty of wine, older but no wiser despite putting her newsroom career first for a change. Anchorwoman gal pal (Sarah Solemani, doing an outrageously saucy take on Fiona Bruce) urges her to get "dirty" at a music festival and, after bunking up with Patrick Dempsey's suave American, Bridget is reordering priorities again. But, whoops, unresolved issues with Darcy (Colin Firth, stoic as ever) means she doesn't know who the daddy is when she gets pregnant. Helen Fielding's third Bridget Jones novel had fans up in arms, so director Sharon Maguire (who made her big-screen debut with Bridget Jones's Diary in 2001) works instead from a script based on Fielding's 2005 columns for The Independent. Fielding also shares screenwriting credit with Emma Thompson (rib-tickling as Bridget's doctor) and Dan Mazer (Borat), who bring a more satisfying mix of dry wit and slapstick than 2004's The Edge of Reason. Even if the machinations of the plot are highly unlikely and a tad predictable, Bridget's insecurities about motherhood and career will chime, and it is in the end, a bundle of joy.