Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) is 32 and determined to take control of her life, filling a diary with lists of aspirations and weight goals. She stumbles through a series of painfully familiar events – turning up to a party in the wrong outfit, waxing, being mocked at work and ogled by her boss (Hugh Grant), overhearing the attractive Mark Darcy (played, of course, by Colin Firth) criticising her looks – with a delightfully chaotic energy, chasing happiness without any idea of what she actually wants. Bridget Jones’s Diary is a mainstream movie about a woman, based on a book by a woman, adapted by a woman, and directed by a woman. Is it a feminist manifesto? The jury’s still out. But it’s a gloriously messy depiction of the absurdity of society’s expectations, with a protagonist seen through empathetic eyes – and most importantly, there’s no scene where a man takes her glasses off and reveals she was really hot all along. It’s one of the all-time great British comedies, full of humour and heart

Liv Lancastle