Renee Zellweger Finds Herself Caught in Awkward Threesome in ‘Bridget Jones’ Baby’

Sandra Miska

It’s been 15 years since Renée Zellweger first brought to life her most famous character in “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” a romantic comedy based on the Helen Fielding novel about a thirty something single woman in London searching for personal and professional satisfaction. When we last saw her, in 2004’s “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason,” she was on the verge of heading off into the sunset with dashing lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), but in the new film, “Bridget Jones’s Baby,” our heroine finds herself in a rather delicate situation.

Now in her forties, Bridget is enjoying success as a television producer, although she clashes with her younger colleagues who prefer the sensational to serious journalism. She also finds herself out of place in her circle of friends, who have all settled down and become parents, but, having broken up with Mark five years earlier, she is single.

One person to whom Bridget can relate is Miranda (Sarah Solemani), a colleague with a healthy sexual appetite. It is the free-spirited Miranda who takes Bridget to a music festival where she which leads to a sexual encounter with a handsome American billionaire Jack (Patrick Dempsey).Not long after, she runs into her ex and also engages in intimate relations. Things get complicated after a pregnancy test comes back positive and Bridget’s gynecologist (Emma Thompson, who co-wrote the screenplay) is unable to determine the exact day of conception. Bridget, Jack and Mark form an awkward threesome to await the bundle of joy’s arrival and the subsequent paternity test that will determine all of their fates.

“Bridget Jones’s Baby” marks the end of a self-imposed hiatus for Zellweger, who hasn’t starred in a film in six years. In an interview with British television host Jonathan Ross, the actress explained how much she enjoyed her time living in relative anonymity.

“When you go away and you’re out of people’s consciousness, they stop noticing you,” she said. “It’s fantastic, you order your coffee and you get a coffee and leave. It’s really nice because I’d meet people authentically, you’d have authentic conversations on the street and I enjoyed that, that’s something that I had missed.”

“Bridget Jones’s Baby” opens nationwide Sept. 16.