STACK #247 May 2025

MOVIE FEATURE

visit jbhifi.com.au/stack

GENRE: Comedy romance RUN TIME: 2h 4m

BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY Dear diary, whatever happened to our favourite wine-swigging, calorie-counting, catastrophe-prone heroine, Bridget Jones? Is she now a fully-fledged 'smug married' with perfect lawyer husband Mark Darcy and angelic children? How terribly dull!

B ut wait a minute! Bridget is now a “singleton”? Back on the market and looking for love in all the wrong places? Can it really be ten years since we last heard from Renee Zellweger’s inimitable Bridget, who melted our hearts across three movies co-starring Hugh Grant and Colin Firth’s sparring suitors? In Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy , Bridget is alone once again, widowed four years ago, when Mark (Firth) was killed on a humanitarian mission in the Sudan. Now a single mother to nine-year-old Billy and four-year-old Mabel, she's stuck in a state of emotional limbo, raising her children with help from her loyal friends and even her former lover, Daniel Cleaver (Grant). Pressured by her urban family - Shazzer, Jude, and Tom - her mother, and even her gynaecologist (Emma Thompson) - to forge a new life, Bridget returns to work and even tries out dating apps, when she’s soon pursued by

she’s grown and how her life has changed - how she’s dealing with her current challenges.” But, as Bridget struggles to rediscover herself within her new reality, it’s not all silliness. “Helen [Fielding, author] has described this as the most personal of all her Bridget books,” says Zellweger. “She’s dealing with her most precious, private moments - the ones she shared with her children while she was navigating that moment in her own life.” Hugh Grant needed no persuasion to reprise his suave rake, Daniel Cleaver. “Cleaver is fun to play. He’s a breath of fresh air. A dinosaur in the world of woke. He’s mischievous and wrong.” He also welcomed the opportunity

Hugh Grant and Renée Zellweger

Leo Woodall’s dreamy and enthusiastic younger man known as Roxter. If Zellweger is very selective over the roles she choses, then returning to Bridget was a no-brainer, viewing this latest film as a homecoming of sorts. “It’s such an interesting thing for a fictional character to move through life at the same pace as the folks who relate to her and love her. People feel that they can see themselves reflected in Bridget’s life experiences. They want to meet up with her again to see how

to re-team with Zellweger. “Renée has always been one of the few actors I’ve actually liked,” he says. “She’s very

• Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy is out May 21

bright, non-bullsh-tty, and a genius at what she does.” Gill Pringle

DON’T OWN ANY BRIDGET JONES MOVIES YET? PICK UP A COPY OF THE 4-FILM COLLECTION.

GENRE: Thriller historical drama RUN TIME: 1h 35m

TERROR LIVE TO AIR: SEPTEMBER 5 Not only is September 5 a powerful film that revisits a pivotal moment in Olympics history - but it also prompts reflection on the role of the media in shaping public discourse during times of crisis. D irected by Tim Fehlbaum ( Tides ), this historical thriller offers a DYK?

The characters were clearly drawn. Everything about it was precise. Telling a story about a big event, particularly a real one - be that a war or a life, or a tragedy - will usually benefit when told from a very specific perspective within the bigger picture.” The filmmakers were indebted to Sean Penn for adding his clout to the film as a co-producer via his Projected Picture Works. “Sean Penn, with his partners John Ira Palmer and John Wildermuth, let us know that they were absolutely convinced by the quality of the screenplay,” recalls co producer Philipp Trauer. “When you send out mail that says, ‘Produced by Sean Penn’ on it, you have a foot in the door.” Gill Pringle

unique perspective on the tragic events of September 5 during the 1972 Munich Olympics, focusing on the ABC Sports broadcasting team’s real-time coverage as the world watched a hostage crisis unfold, resulting in the deaths of 11 athletes. At the heart of the film is John Magaro’s Geoff Mason, a young ambitious producer striving to prove himself to his boss, the legendary TV executive Roone Arledge, played by Peter Sarsgaard. Sarsgaard was fascinated by the many questions raised in the script. “It’s the question of whether or not some people who are thousands of miles away should be covering the story, who are more experienced, or if some very well-intentioned, sincere

All live footage of the siege - along with studio coverage and interviews - comes directly from ABC’s original broadcast during the crisis, sourced from their archival recordings.

Peter Sarsgaard, Ben Chaplin, and John Magaro

sportscasters who are close to the event should be covering it. “And I guess Roone had a certain amount of ambition, but I think it also made sense. I love that, where he says, ‘They can tell us what it all means later. We’re just going to cover it’,” says the actor, known for his roles in Blue Jasmine, Memory, and many more. For Chaplin, he was initially attracted to the script’s quality and clarity. “It was very economical.

• September 5 is out May 14

IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU’LL LOVE THESE:

The Post, Shattered Glass, Spotlight, She Said

20 MAY 2025

jbhifi.com.au