On Christmas Eve I wanted to watch my favorite Christmas movie, Bridget Jones’s Diary but my boyfriend argued 1) It is not a Christmas movie and 2) It’s dumb. So instead we settled in to watch the very Christmassy and very intelligent The Interview instead.
The Interview (2014)
If you look back at my trailer review for The Interview you will see that I was excited for this film before the Sony hacking scandal occurred.
Was I disappointed by this film? A little bit, yes. It is a funny movie, but not uproariously so. It takes longer than it should for the story to get off the ground. The first quarter was boring, but once the action moves to Korea things get better. The Interview has its funny moments that are enjoyable if you are a fan of Seth Rogen’s brand of comedy.
What I like best about The Interview is the ‘bromance’ Dave Skylark (James Franco) develops with Kim Jong-Un (Randall Park). Both actors are excellent in their roles, but Randall Park in particular steals the show. He makes Un funny and strangely charming/sympathetic. But he also does well to show the darker side of Un. I also like that The Interview takes shots at North Korea’s policies, but also that of the United States. The United States isn’t condemned like North Korea. But a few jabs here and there show that the US can be hypocritical with some of their policies.
I enjoyed The Interview, but it is definitely not a movie worth starting a war over.
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
At midnight on Christmas Eve I couldn’t sleep, so I thought, fuck it, I’ll watch Bridget Jones by myself. And I’m glad I did because as always this film put a big smile on my face. My boyfriend may not think this is a Christmas movie, but nothing screams Christmas like “I realize that when I met you at the turkey curry buffet, I was unforgivably rude, and wearing a reindeer jumper.”
I find that over ten years later this movie still works. Yes, the telephones and VCRs are now dated, but the humor is still relevant. Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant all give great performances. Renee is a perfect Bridget, making her both quirky, charming, and realistic. Colin Firth is great as Mark Darcy, but that’s to be expected from the man who also played a similar Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. And Hugh Grant is very humorous as Daniel Cleaver.
I like Bridget Jones’s Diary because it makes me happy. I find it very funny even after multiple viewings. It’s a Christmas tradition that I like to try to maintain every year. Well, it and reindeer jumpers.
I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I want to say thank you to all my subscribers, I really appreciate each and every one of you.
The Girl that Loved to Review 
I recently read the Bridget Jones book and have been dying to watch the movie again. Can’t wait!
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Ha! My partner just recently goaded me into watching both Bridget Jones movies as well as Love Actually. Despite my reservations I really enjoyed the Bridget Jones ones (although the first took the cake over the second imo). I thought they were both far better than Love Actually, which while funny, didn’t work as well for me as a narrative and came off as a bit too cheesy. And yeah, I think I preferred Hugh as the sleezeball in BJD rather than the up tight and a little too charming Prime Minister of England.
Haven’t seen the interview yet and probably won’t be on top of my to see list but you never know.
Hope the holidays were great for you and yer boy, and I hope you keep producing such engaging content!
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I haven’t seen the second Bridget Jones movie. I think the first one is great as a stand alone movie, there’s just no way a sequel could be as charming. I remember the first time I saw Love Actually I liked it a lot, but when I saw it again recently on TV is seemed really dumb. Also the TV version cut out Martin Freeman’s story line (a tragedy!).
Hopefully you had a great holiday and thank you for supporting my blog! Happy New Year!
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