Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy has debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a record-breaking score. The movie is the fourth installment in the romantic comedy franchise, which is based on the Bridget Jones’ Diary series by author Helen Fielding. The upcoming Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy follows the title character, played as always by Renée Zellweger, as she grieves the death of her husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and begins dating Roxster (Leo Woodall) a man who is two decades younger than her.
Rotten Tomatoes has now aggregated an official score for Mad About the Boy from 27 different critics’ reviews. While it could fluctuate as more reviews are added, at the time of writing the movie has earned a firmly Fresh 85% with an average rating of 6.9 out of 10. In addition to marking the third-highest score of Zellweger’s entire acting career (behind One True Thing and Chicago, which are tied at 87%), this is the best score ever for a movie in the Bridget Jones franchise.
What This Means For Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy

It Continues The Franchise’s Rebound

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy reviews have been glowing, praising everything from the comedy to her character arc to Emma Thompson’s supporting role as Bridget’s gynecologist. This has allowed the franchise to continue its rebound, adding a third Fresh score to the roster after the original 2004 sequel The Edge of Reason failed to win over critics and earned a Rotten Tomatoes splat. Below, see a breakdown of how the new movie compares to the previous installments in the franchise:

Title

RT Critic Score

Average Rating

RT Audience Score

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

80%

6.9/10

81%

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

17%

4.7/10

60%

Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016)

78%

6.3/10

65%

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025)

85%

6.9/10

TBD

In addition to earning the highest score of the franchise so far, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy has tied with the average rating of the original movie, which was a smash box office hit in addition to earning Zellweger an Oscar nomination. It remains to be seen if it becomes Certified Fresh like the first and third installments once enough reviews are added. However, that seems like a major possibility considering the tenor of the reviews that have already been aggregated.
Our Take On The Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy Rotten Tomatoes Score

The Movie Could Use The Boost

This stellar score for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy could help it significantly when it comes to finding its domestic audience. The Renée Zellweger movie is not being released in theaters in the United States in spite of getting a theatrical release overseas, and instead will debut on Peacock on February 13. While this may have hampered its ability to connect with viewers, the fact that this score implies that it could possibly match or even surpass the original classic will likely attract a lot more attention than a middling or negative score would have.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes