Bridget Jones's Diary (R, 2001)

In BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY, Bridget wants to lose weight, stop smoking and drinking, and stop worrying about getting a boyfriend -- so that she can get a boyfriend. But first, she has to get through the gorgeous cad stage -- having an affair with her workaholic, alcoholic, self-centered, needy, but witty and undeniably extremely gorgeous boss, Daniel (Hugh Grant). But being taken advantage of by Daniel is not the worst of Bridget's trials. There is her mother, who leaves her father for an oily home shopping channel pitchman with a fake tan. There is showing up for a "tarts and vicars" party in a Playboy bunny outfit because no one told her that they had decided not to have the guests wear costumes after all. There is the rather stunning shot of Bridget from below as she slides down a fireman's pole, broadcast throughout the country on television. And there is the stiff and disapproving childhood neighbor, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), now a divorced barrister, who always seems to be there just as Bridget encounters disaster.

Renée Zellwegger is irresistible as Bridget Jones, in this delectable romantic comedy with some sly references to that uber-romantic comedy, Pride and Prejudice. From the opening credits, when we see her singing along with the radio to "All By Myself" in her flannel pajamas, we know that she is destined to find someone who loves her as much as we do already, and that we will have a lot of fun on the way there. Hugh Grant seems positively relieved not to have to be the stammering, adorable, truehearted "Notting Hill" guy anymore. He plays the part of Daniel, "a disaster with a posh voice and a terrible character," with such relish that viewers enjoy seeing Bridget fall for him almost as much as they enjoy seeing her tell him off.

Like his namesake in Pride and Prejudice, though, Darcy turns out to have more tenderness and humor than one would think. And so do the filmmakers. Firth, who played Darcy in the television miniseries Pride and Prejudice, appears as this Mr. Darcy as well, and his sly and subtle variation on the character is another of the movie's great pleasures.