Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy fans brand iconic character’s return as widowed single mother ‘dark and depressing’ and claim ‘weepy’ film ‘doesn’t fit in’ with the franchise’s previous laugh out loud instalments

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy has left fans divided after the iconic character’s fourth big screen outing hit cinemas on Thursday.

The long-awaited sequel sees Renee Zellweger reprise her role as the titular heroine, and sees her adjusting to life as widowed single mother following the shock death of husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and returning to the dating scene.  

However fans have branded the movie ‘depressing’ and said it’s more complex themes resulted in it ‘not fitting in’ with the franchise’s previous laugh out loud instalments. 

Taking to X one wrote: ‘Bridget Jones 4 was… a movie I spent 2 hours watching. It’s advertised as a comedy but that aspect is nonexistent. It’s just depressing and when it starts to get light hearted they abruptly make it serious again… it doesn’t fit in with the other movies. No plans to rewatch’.

While another complained: ‘This new Bridget Jones movie is so depressing and made me sad even with a happy ending’. 

‘Anyone see the new Bridget Jones movie? I thought it was kind of depressing at least until near the end’.

‘The final instalment is darker as it deals wt grief. It’s formulaic yet bittersweet. The actors are phoning it in though. #BridgetJonesDiary is still my favourite movie from the franchise. Mark Darcy is undeniably the best part of Bridget Jones’.

‘The new Bridget Jones doesn’t feel like Bridget at all. It’s is in fact a cry fest. Don’t watch if you want the usual laughs and not to be on a Debbie downer’.

While other fans were quick to claim the latest movie was the ‘best’ in the franchise and praised it for tenderly dealing with Bridget’s loss and grief.

Taking to X one said: ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy is such a terrific surprise! Easily the best of the series, mostly down to how it tenderly examines grief. Renée Zellweger knocked it out of the park! More movies need Chiwetel Ejiofor’.

While another wrote: ‘Bridget Jones 4 was beautiful :’) Heads up for anyone dealing with grief, this movie deals with themes that surround death and dying’.

‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is injected with the same vivaciousness as previous movies and beautifully covers grief, purpose and finding joy. There is pain but also love beyond the Prince and Pumpkin carriage’.

‘Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was genuinely so wonderful?? i didn’t expect such a compassionate depiction of grief and love but it made me cry so many times. and Leo Woodall is a movie star!!’.

‘We can apparently now talk about “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.” “Mad Bout the Boy” is easily the best of the four feature films, a surprisingly tender and sincere meditation on grief, loss and middle age. One of the better of the recent legacyquels and revivals’. 

It comes after Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding has opened up about her late husband as she confessed that her family cope with grief using dark humour. 

The writer, 66, was in a relationship with The Simpson’s writer Kevin Curran before he died in 2016 aged 59 following a long illness.

Helen and Kevin, who share children Dashiell, 20, and Romy, 18, lived together for nine years in Los Angeles before they split in 2009, but Helen remained a strong presence in her ex’s life until his death. 

Bridget’s experience mirrors Helen’s own in the new movie which is based upon her 2013 book of the same name.

Following Curran’s death, Helen revealed that a dark-humoured saying was formed among their family. 

She told The Sunday Times: ‘We have a saying in our family: ‘don’t get too #deathy.’ 

‘I’m always reluctant to be too personal but the children’s father did die and he wrote for The Simpsons, so no joke was too dark to make. 

‘That made me see you don’t have to sit around feeling sorry for your loss- people still stay the same person when something bad happens.’

She added of her two children, that they ‘have gone through quite a lot, so they’re quite emotionally intelligent,’ explaining how scenes in the film which show Bridget’s children posting homemade cards to Darcy on his birthday are showing them ‘processing what has happened to their father all the time with her. It’s not a taboo area’

Helen then confessed that she sees grief like a ‘muddy puddle’ in that it sends her into a ‘dark place’ but when you come out of it, you have to enjoy it. 

And Helen’s depiction of Bridget losing her husband left fans in tears after they release the initial trailer for the fourth film. 

Renee’s iconic singleton finally married Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth in the most recent film, 2016’s Bridget Jones’ Baby.

The couple had shared an on-and-off romance across all three films, but finally got their happy ending after it was revealed the high-flying lawyer was the father of her baby.

However, in the fourth book Mark tragically dies while working abroad as a human rights lawyer, leaving Bridget a widow and battling motherhood alone.