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Bridget Jones - watched it last night, erm it’s aged a bit!

253 replies

Noeuf · 17/10/2021 09:55

Gosh watched with dd as I was up late and it came on. Funny how I remembered it and how we’ve moved on now.
The emails about her skirt - funny/flirty then and now massively inappropriate
Darcy ‘negging’ her - dd couldn’t see why he was meant to be the one we all wanted
Fighting in the street! And no comeback for him as a human rights barrister
91/2 stone - and she was fat??!!! I weigh more than that and don’t think I’m comment worthy!
Just so interesting to see how my views have changed really.

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imreallycartman · 17/10/2021 09:57

I watched it again recently and thought exactly the same, I did like it back in the day but now it makes me cringe

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WheelieBinPrincess · 17/10/2021 09:58

No the point is she THOUGHT she was fat but the viewer/reader is meant to know that she isn’t! That’s her hang up, we all think we are too fat at one stage or another don’t we?!

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Noeuf · 17/10/2021 10:00

But that’s not quite true - the American (Lara) says something like I thought she was thin?

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Noeuf · 17/10/2021 10:00

Cartman, the only good bit was how she stands up for herself really - leaving the job and finding a nee one etc.

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SummerOrAutumn · 17/10/2021 10:01

Agree it hasn't dated well. But still love Bridget Smile

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BigSandyBalls2015 · 17/10/2021 10:03

My DDs were stunned by the fact that she’s considered to be a loser despite her fab job and amazing Central London flat!

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Cuntness · 17/10/2021 10:04

It annoys me that her birthday is in November in the first one, and then during festival season in the third.

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audweb · 17/10/2021 10:05

Wasn’t the weight thing the point? Like she wasn’t fat but perceived herself to be. Also in the nineties we had super thin super models pushed down our throats so it was seen as aspirational to be thin?

Also, it was written like 25/30 years ago. I’m only forty but no wonder it’s aged. Still enjoyable though

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SickAndTiredAgain · 17/10/2021 10:07

@Noeuf

But that’s not quite true - the American (Lara) says something like I thought she was thin?

Doesn’t she say “I thought you said she was thin.” So we know that that’s how Daniel Cleaver viewed her.

But yes, I think it’s definitely of it’s time.
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QueenDanu · 17/10/2021 10:07

I know, agree with you @noeuf my dd18 and she commented that the pressure to be married for my generation is something she cant imagine.
Im 51 so my experience was like bridget's. Dated losers and felt fat for decades before i copped on and realised i dont have to be married, i dont have to be magazine thin.

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girafferafferaffe · 17/10/2021 10:10

Ah I loved Bridget. She was definitely 'of the time' !

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WheelieBinPrincess · 17/10/2021 10:11

Her flat is in Borough and I think her friends are meant to live in a ‘rough’ bit of Notting hill in the book, while Darcy lives in Holland Park.

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Bagelsandbrie · 17/10/2021 10:12

I watched it again and thought the same!

She was definitely meant to be “fat” - that’s why there’s the whole joke about the big pants etc. She looks pretty slim to me!

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Noeuf · 17/10/2021 10:13

Oh I love Bridget - grew up with the newspaper diary, read the books I’m not dissing Brdge!
Just surprised last night at how socially acceptable loads of stuff was like fighting in the street, trashing a restaurant etc and that just wouldn’t be seen as attractive now - Darcy is just rude and weird, and not in a brooding, manly way Grin

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Noeuf · 17/10/2021 10:14

I remember all the press about RZ putting on weight to at the part etc.

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home2012 · 17/10/2021 10:14

N the book, the joke was she "thought she was fat". It isn't work in the film as they made her "plump" and a bit frumpy at times

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WheelieBinPrincess · 17/10/2021 10:15

Yes definitely the trashing of the restaurant!! The other diners act like they’ve paid for a Caberet meal.

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ChristieMalry · 17/10/2021 10:18

It was possible - just - to own a flat in places like shepherds Bush, inner south London, inner East London etc on a low 'professional' wage at that point. Hers was decorated nicely but obviously not completely modernised or brilliantly well built and designed.

Her modern counterpart would be working for pretty much the same amount of money or even for free on an internship and living in a shared house in zone 4+.

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Mellowyellow222 · 17/10/2021 10:20

I agree it hasn’t aged, but a lot of people misunderstand the weight thing.

It was at a time when everyone was weight obsessed. She wasn’t super skinny, but she wasn’t obese. Her bmi was healthy, she wanted to be stick thin though.

She was heavier than the super skinny Lara. She wore granny pants because she has a few bumps and curves. But she wasn’t fat.

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ChristieMalry · 17/10/2021 10:21

YY agree with that. The entire narrative around weight was skewed and Bridget reflected that.

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x2boys · 17/10/2021 10:23

The first two books are so much funnier than the films imo, but the whole point of them was it was about a youngish female, who had lots of insecurities, and had disastrous relationships, i completely related to her at the time.

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PinkTonic · 17/10/2021 10:24

I’m wondering how old the people are who are commenting that some aspects wouldn’t be socially acceptable now. Fighting in the street and trashing the restaurant wasn’t ok then either, neither was the skirt ‘flirting’ and the whole point about her weight was that she was constantly agonising because she wasn’t a size zero stick insect, not that she was actually fat.

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Gingernaut · 17/10/2021 10:27

It was shit to start with

Bridget Jones was an irritating creature to start with.

By the middle of the first film, I was ready to throttle the twit to put her out of my misery.

The second film was unwatchable - I walked out of the cinema, leaving my mates behind.

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ravenmum · 17/10/2021 10:30

Daniel Cleaver was meant to be a horrible creep at the time - as the reader you were supposed to read between the lines and writhe in horror and fascination at what she was doing. It's the unreliable narrator trick and can be very funny.

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itssquidstella · 17/10/2021 10:32

@SickAndTiredAgain I always read that comment from Lara ("I thought you said she was thin?") as Daniel having talked Bridget up to make himself look better/make Lara feel like she was competing.

And Lara probably would perceive someone of normal weight like Bridget as fat.

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