Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boyhas debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a record-breaking score. The movie is the fourth installment in the romantic comedy franchise, which is based on theBridget Jones' Diaryseries by author Helen Fielding. TheupcomingBridget Jones: Mad About the Boyfollows the title character, played as always by Renée Zellweger, as she grieves the death of her husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and begins dating Roxster (Leo Woodall) a man who is two decades younger than her.
Rotten Tomatoeshas now aggregated an official score forMad About the Boyfrom 27 different critics' reviews. While it could fluctuate as more reviews are added, at the time of writingthe movie has earned a firmly Fresh 85%with an average rating of 6.9 out of 10. In addition to marking the third-highest score of Zellweger’s entire acting career (behindOne True ThingandChicago, which are tied at 87%), this isthe best score ever for a movie in theBridget Jonesfranchise.
It Continues The Franchise’s Rebound
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boyreviewshave been glowing, praising everything from the comedy to her character arc to Emma Thompson’s supporting role as Bridget’s gynecologist. This has allowed the franchise to continue its rebound,adding a third Fresh score to the rosterafter the original 2004 sequelThe Edge of Reasonfailed to win over critics and earned a Rotten Tomatoes splat. Below, see a breakdown of how the new movie compares to the previous installments in the franchise:
80%
6.9/10
81%
17%
4.7/10
60%
78%
6.3/10
65%
85%
TBD
In addition to earning the highest score of the franchise so far,Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boyhas tied with the average rating of the original movie, which was a smash box office hit in addition to earning Zellweger an Oscar nomination. It remains to be seen if it becomes Certified Fresh like the first and third installments once enough reviews are added. However, that seems like a major possibility considering the tenor of the reviews that have already been aggregated.
The Movie Could Use The Boost
This stellar score forBridget Jones: Mad About the Boycould help it significantly when it comes to finding its domestic audience. TheRenée Zellweger movieis not being released in theaters in the United States in spite of getting a theatrical release overseas, and instead will debut on Peacock on February 13. While this may have hampered its ability to connect with viewers, the fact that this score implies that it could possibly match or even surpass the original classic will likely attract a lot more attention than a middling or negative score would have.
