Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025)

Movie · 2025 · Romance, Comedy, Drama · 2h 4m · R · English

Curator score: 4.2/10 (260.2K ratings)

She's starting a new chapter. Just as she is.

Overview

Bridget Jones navigates life as a widow and single mum with the help of her family, friends, and former lover, Daniel. Back to work and on the apps, she's pursued by a younger man and maybe – just maybe – her son's science teacher.

Ratings

Director

Michael Morris

Production

StudioCanal, Miramax, Working Title Films

Cast

Renée Zellweger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, Colin Firth, Sarah Solemani, Josette Simon, Nico Parker, Mila Jankovic, Casper Knopf, Leila Farzad, Shirley Henderson, James Callis, Sally Phillips, Celia Imrie, Neil Pearson, Dolly Wells, Claire Skinner

Where to watch

Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus

Curator Review

Verdict

A warm, funny, and unexpectedly moving continuation of Bridget’s story, balancing widowhood, dating-app chaos, and familiar rom-com embarrassment with real grief. It works best if you want a grown-up comfort movie that still has emotional weight.

Best for

  • fans of the Bridget Jones films
  • viewers who like romantic comedies with grief and healing
  • audiences looking for middle-aged dating humor
  • people who enjoy British ensemble comedy-drama

Skip if

  • you want a light, consequence-free rom-com
  • you dislike franchise sequels centered on loss
  • you prefer sleek, modern romance over messy, self-deprecating humor

Overview

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy treats its heroine’s life stage with more tenderness than most studio rom-coms bother to offer. The film leans into widowhood, parenting, and the awkward absurdities of re-entering the dating world, but it never loses the franchise’s essential appeal: Bridget’s humiliations are funny because they are human, and the movie understands that embarrassment and resilience often arrive together.

Worth noting

What makes it work is the tonal balance. It has the expected flirtation, comic misfires, and broad supporting-character energy, but it also makes room for genuine grief and the strange, uneven process of starting over. The result is less frothy than the earlier films, but more emotionally mature, with enough wit and romantic charge to keep it buoyant.

Bottom line

It’s not a reinvention, and some of the plot mechanics are pure comfort-food rom-com. Still, the film earns its sentiment, and the lead performance keeps it grounded in charm rather than nostalgia alone. If you’ve ever wanted a sequel that lets a beloved rom-com heroine age, mourn, and still be ridiculous, this is an easy yes.

Top Letterboxd reviews

Levi Fifita-Lamb (3★) · 15668 likes

Glad to see Hugh Grant still being an absolute slut 24 years later.

Jordana (4★) · 8152 likes

🇬🇷🧮🦆

astupidfraser (3.5★) · 6408 likes

Watched this in a cinema packed full of horny 50 year old women the way the filmmakers intended

laura ☽ (3.5★) · 6133 likes

bro jumped in the pool to save the dog that was SWIMMING 💀🙏

Stella Cheersmith (4.5★) · 5661 likes

DAMN YOU BRIDGET JONES FRANCHISE for killing off Mark Darcy and then making a film that is actually a really poignant and genuine exploration of grief and yet somehow still full of the classic, laugh-out-loud BJ humour as well as quiet, prosaic moments and snippets of joy and wonderment at the world and also one of the Top Ten Most Romantic Speeches of All Time... DAMN YOU 😭

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Topics

romantic comedy, dramedy, grief, dating, single mother, middle age, British humor, ensemble cast, feel-good, emotional

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