Latest / This Film is Lit / Bridget Jones's Diary

Transcript

Bridget Jones's Diary · This Film is Lit

0:04
Speaker A: This Film Is lit, the podcast where we finally settle the score on one simple Is the book really better than the movie? I'm Brian and I have a film degree, so I watch the movie but don't read the book.
0:15
Speaker B: And I'm Katie, I have an English degree, so I do things the right way and read the book before we watch the movie.
0:22
Speaker A: So prepare to be wowed by our expertise and charm as we dissect all of your favorite film adaptations and decide if the silver screen or the written word did it better. So turn it up, settle in, and get ready for spoilers. Because this film is lit. It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces. It's Bridget Jones Diary, and this film is lit. Hello and welcome back to this Film Is Late, the podcast where we talk about movies that are based on books. We have a jam packed episode this week. We do not have a Guess who, but we have everything else, including a pretty lengthy Lost in Adaptation segment, so we're gonna jump right in. If you have not read or watched Bridget Jones's Diary recently, we're gonna give you a summary of the film. And let me sum up. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. This summary of the film is sourced from Wikipedia. Bridget Jones is 32, single, engagingly imperfect, and worried about her weight. She works as a publicity assistant at a publishing company in London where her main focus is fantasizing about her boss, Daniel Cleaver. At her parents New York New Year party, Bridget is introduced to Mark Darcy, a childhood acquaintance and handsome barrister. The son of her parents friend, Mark calls Bridget foolish and vulgar and she thinks he is arrogant and rude. Overhearing Mark grumble to his mother about her attempt to set him up with a verbally incontinent spot spinster who smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and dresses like her mother. Bridget forms the New Year's resolution to turn her life around. She begins keeping a diary to chronicle her attempt to stop smoking, drinking and lose weight and find her Mr. Bridget. Find her Mr. Right. Bridget and Daniel begin to flirt heavily at work ahead of an important book launch at which Bridget runs into Mark and his glamorous and haughty colleague Natasha. Bridget leaves with Daniel and they have dinner. Despite Daniel's notorious reputation as a womanizer, Daniel tells Bridget that he and Mark were formerly friends, but as Mark had sex with his fiance, they now hate each other. Bridget and Daniel start dating. Bridget is invited to a family party originally A Tarts and Vickers costume party, so she ties that into a mini break weekend with Daniel. They spend the day before the party at a country inn where Mark and Natasha are also staying. The morning of the party, Daniel says he must return to London for work and leaves Bridget dressed as a Playboy bunny to endure the party alone. When she returns to London and drops in on Daniel, she discovers his American colleague Laura naked in his flat. Bridget cut ties with them and immediately searches for a new career. She lands a job in television and when Daniel pleads with her to stay, she declares that she would rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein's ass. I don't know why the Wikipedia article decided to include that line. It's very interesting.
3:13
Speaker B: Yeah, that's an interesting detail of all.
3:16
Speaker A: Like they haven't included any other lines yet. I don't know. Bridget attends a friend's long standing dinner. Well, that's not true. They've actually referenced a bunch of line anyways. Like the way it's written is very. It's very interesting to me. Bridget attends a friend's long standing dinner party where she is the only unaccompanied. Once again, she crosses path with Mark and Natasha. He privately confesses to Bridget that despite her faults, he likes her just as she is. Just as you are. Sometime later, he allows Bridget an exclusive TV interview in a landmark legal case, which boosts her career and prompts her to see him differently. Bridget begins to develop feelings for Mark and when she misguidedly and somewhat disastrously attempts to cook her own birthday party dinner, he comes to her rescue. After a happy After a happy dinner celebration with Bridget's friends and Mark, a drunken Daniel arrives and temporarily monopolizes Bridget's attention. Mark leaves but returns to challenge Daniel and they fight in the street, eventually smashing through the window of a Greek restaurant. The fight eventually ends with Bridget chiding Mark and him leaving and after a self serving appeal from Daniel, she rejects him as well. Bridget's mother Pamela has left Bridget's father Colin and begun an affair with Permatan Shopping channel presenter Julian. When the affair ends, she returns to the Jones family home and offhandedly reveals that Mark and Daniel's falling out resulted from Daniel, then Mark's best friend at Cambridge, having sex with Mark's wife, which Mark walked in on, not the other way around. At the Darcy's Ruby wedding anniversary party the same day, Bridget confesses her feelings for Mark, only to learn that he and Natasha have accepted jobs in New York and are on the verge of an engagement. According to Mark's father. Bridget interrupts the toast with an emotionally moving speech that peters out as she realizes the hopelessness of her position. Although her words affect Mark, he still flies to New York. Bridget's friends rally to repair her broken heart with a surprise ship trip to Paris. But as they are about to leave, Mark appears at Bridget's flat just as they're about to kiss for the first time. Bridget rushes to her bedroom to change into sex. Mark notices her open diary, reads her unflattering opinions of him and leaves. Bridget realizes that this has happened and runs out after him in the snow. And just her tiger sprint under tiger print, tiger skin print underwear, a thin cardigan and trainers, sneakers for American audiences. There's no sign of him. And disheartened, she is about to return home when Mark emerges from a nearby shop. Bridget apologizes for what she wrote and tries to persuade him to that it's just a diary. Mark reveals that he only left to buy her a new one, which he gives her to make a fresh start. And they kiss in the snow covered street. The end. That is Bridget Jones's diary. I have a lot of questions about it. Let's get into him in. Was that in the book?
5:45
Speaker B: Gaston, may I have my book, please?
5:47
Speaker A: How can you read this? There's no pictures.
5:49
Speaker B: Well, some people use their imagination.
5:52
Speaker A: So we're introduced to Bridget at the beginning of the film. And one of the first things we see her do is go to a family party that her parents are throwing or whatever at Christmas party, I think is what it is.
6:02
Speaker B: New Year's party.
6:02
Speaker A: New Year's party, That's right. But they're still wearing Christmas stuff, which I thought was interesting because, like, she's wearing or like Darcy's wearing, like a reindeer sweater, I don't know. But at this party, she's kind of introducing some of the other ancillary characters in the story, including, like, her parents and stuff. But one of the people she introduces is her uncle, who she calls uncle, but says is not actually her uncle, but that he insists he calls her, that she call him that while he gropes her and he just, like, we see him like, grab her butt in the scene, like, right away. And it's just this weird old guy. And I wanted to know if the groping uncle, who isn't her actual uncle, comes from the book. Because, boy, this book, right, or this movie right out of the gate just hits us like, nonstop with, like a bunch of early 2000s humor that has aged just wonderfully, let me tell you. I mean, to be fair, this scene, it's not played. It's played for last, but it's also played for like, he's a creep. Like it's not.
6:54
Speaker B: They're not like saying it's like, fine, it is played for laughs, but we are supposed to think he's a creep. Yeah.
6:59
Speaker A: So I don't think this. This particular joke, while kind of maybe in poor taste to some, like, it's not like. I don't think it's like a particularly poorly aged joke necessarily, because again, the. The joke is about that he's a creep.
7:11
Speaker B: Yeah.
7:11
Speaker A: And not like, oh, this is fine. I don't know. Anyways, does that come from the book?
7:15
Speaker B: Yes, it does. Uncle Jeffrey, I believe, who isn't really her uncle and is always perving on her, is from the book.
7:24
Speaker A: Yeah. Okay. But yeah, there's some other things in that opening that I didn't ask about, but like the. Some of the things her mom says. Her mom has a very dated opinions on things.
7:35
Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
7:36
Speaker A: That the movie kind of shotguns right in the beginning of the. In the film here. So after the party where she's made to feel, you know, like kind of. It does not go well because her mom's trying to set her up with people. With people constantly. And everybody's asking why she's still single. And then she meets Darcy and he's a jerk to her and she embarrassed herself in front of him and blah, blah, blah. And then we kind of get to see what her life is like. When she gets home to her flat, she sits alone at the couch. And this is for the opening credits. And she sings All By Myself to herself while drunk on wine. And it just felt a little. The scene I thought was fine. And I think it's all like, acted fine. And I think I actually liked the. The concept of like the opening credits being her just like singing through a whole song drunkenly, sadly, by herself. It was the choice of All By Myself that felt a little on the nose and hack. And I wanted to know if anything about that came from the book.
8:31
Speaker B: No, this scene isn't from the book. She does drink wine a lot, so I guess that's from the book.
8:36
Speaker A: I'm specifically asking about the song.
8:38
Speaker B: No, I don't care about it. Her singing the song and this specific scene not from the book. And I totally agree, it's pretty on the nose. I was kind of expecting for the movie to undercut it by having her neighbor bang on the wall or something and yell shut up. But that did not happen.
8:56
Speaker A: Yeah, it was interesting. Again, I don't even hate the scene. It's just the song I was like. It's just any other. Pick a song that's less like, this is what's happening in this scene. I don't know. Just anything else I think would have been better.
9:10
Speaker B: Fans of Good bad or Bad bad will know that you don't like that when the song. What's in the scene.
9:14
Speaker A: Yeah, I, I, well, I, I think, I think all people with discerning tastes should not like when a, when a song is a little too. Unless it's like intentionally, which again, this is, it's a comedy. It is doing that kind of intentionally. It still just felt like hack to me. I feel like I just like just any other song, man, I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't have felt that way in 2000, but it just, the, the, the prominence of that song as a meme kind of is just like. And I don't know, maybe somewhat, its exposure and whatnot is somewhat related to this film. I have no idea. Yeah, but it's just such a, like a. Yeah, that's like that meme song about being alone and she's alone, so she's singing. I don't know. It's just like, pick anything else. Anyways, we're introduced to her friend group next, and she has a handful of friends who kind of drop in and out throughout the movie. They don't play a major role, but they're kind of here and there. And one of them is Jude. And I mentioned this in the prequel episode that the actress that plays Jude, and I can't remember her name now for the life of me, is also the actress who plays Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter series. And there was the trivia thing, like commenting on the fact that in Moaning Myrtle, obviously she's a ghost who sits crying in the bathroom all day long. And in this movie she's playing a character who apparently cries in the bathroom all day long. And I wanted to know if that element of her character came from the book.
10:33
Speaker B: Her friend Jude is from the book and she is constantly a mess, mostly due to a really bad off and on relationship, as we see in the movie. And I think there is at least one point in the book where she's crying in a bathroom when she calls Bridget.
10:51
Speaker A: Okay. I think the movie literally has an exact line of like. And she almost always calls me crying from a bathroom. Like she says like that exact line, like in the voiceover or whatever, which, like, a very direct reference. She doesn't just happen to be in a bathroom. This one scene, it's like, this is a thing for her. And I thought that was kind of weird or kind of funny. But also, apparently, like, that's just what that actress sounds like.
11:12
Speaker B: Yeah, I definitely, definitely thought she was doing more of a voice for Moaning Myrtle and.
11:18
Speaker A: Cause I've also seen her in Doctor who, and I guess she does, because she's in that one episode of Doctor who.
11:22
Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
11:24
Speaker A: She turns into a brick.
11:25
Speaker B: Or brick.
11:25
Speaker A: A brick. Yeah.
11:26
Speaker B: Yeah. What a weird episode.
11:28
Speaker A: Not a great episode of Doctor who, but. And in that one, she sounds similar, but I don't think it's as much like. I don't think the, like, the affectation of her voice. She has, like a very, like.
11:38
Speaker B: She's very, like, nasally.
11:40
Speaker A: Nasally, like. I don't know how else to describe it. And I guess I knew that the actor kind of sounded like that, but I was like, oh, she just sounds like she's not doing a voice as Moaning Myrtles.
11:49
Speaker B: That's just one scene. Especially in this opening scene where we're introduced to her, she just sounds like.
11:56
Speaker A: Moaning Mercles because she is crying, to be fair, and wailing in a bathroom. So, yeah. So then we get into Bridget's job, and she works in a publishing office. And she has mentioned that she has this boss named Daniel Cleaver who is very hot, played by Hugh Grant in the film, but that he's, like, notoriously a womanizer and this sort of thing. And she, like. She doesn't really like him, but she also thinks he's very attractive and that sort of thing. And then out of nowhere, and this. I have a question about this later, because I found this very confusing. And we'll talk about this more in Lost adaptation because I. I don't know, I felt crazy for, like. And then I figured I was like, okay, I guess this is what's going on. But they start flirting. And by flirting, I mean her boss just starts sexually harassing her at work by writing her raunchy nails uninvited in any way whatsoever. And. And then they start dating. And I wanted to know if she starts dating her boss by him. Just immediately. Sexually her. I say immediately. I. You know, just sexually harassing her.
12:56
Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. This part of the book was crazy to me. And maybe that's a testament to how far we've come in terms of workplace harassment. I don't know. But there's. There's literally, like, in the book, there's zero indication that they've ever interacted other than like professionally. And he just starts emailing her about her skirt and how he likes her tits in that top out of nowhere. And they're so open and bold about it. Which was what really shocked me.
13:30
Speaker A: Yeah.
13:30
Speaker B: Was like. I was like reading it and I was like, just like on the work. Like through work comms. Y'all aren't worried about hr?
13:38
Speaker A: Yeah. Not even like personal cell phones. Just like work.
13:41
Speaker B: Work email. Yeah, there was one. There's one thing that did not make it into the movie where Bridget logs into their inner office comms. It was a little hard to determine exactly what this was in the book. If it was like email or if it was more like an inner Office.
13:59
Speaker A: It's like 2001 Slack.
14:01
Speaker B: Yeah. Or something. I don't know.
14:03
Speaker A: Yeah.
14:04
Speaker B: But she says that she logs in as Perpetua, who's her co worker. She says to give him a fright. So she sends him a message as Perpetua, flirts with him through that message as well. And then also mentions herself by name in the message.
14:24
Speaker A: What do you mean mentions herself?
14:26
Speaker B: Let me read this to you.
14:28
Speaker A: Do you mean mentions herself or mentions Perpetua?
14:30
Speaker B: No, mentions herself.
14:31
Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. I need context. I'm not sure what you mean.
14:35
Speaker B: 11Am Teehee just logged on as Perpetua to give Daniel a fright message. Cleave. That's Daniel.
14:45
Speaker A: Yeah.
14:46
Speaker B: It is hard enough as it is trying to meet your targets without people wasting my team's time with non essential Messages signed Perpetua. P.S. bridget's skirt is not feeling at all well and have sent it home. So she logs in as her co worker.
15:04
Speaker A: Yeah.
15:04
Speaker B: Right. And presumably her co worker is going to be able to see this message.
15:08
Speaker A: Yeah, you would think.
15:09
Speaker B: And then continues this flirtation with her boss.
15:13
Speaker A: And then references.
15:13
Speaker B: And then references herself.
15:15
Speaker A: Her co worker would know she was.
15:16
Speaker B: So now she's incriminated herself. Nothing ever comes of it.
15:21
Speaker A: Nobody knew anything about technology. Nobody thought about that. Like logs, stuff like that.
15:27
Speaker B: Like nothing ever comes of this, obviously. Like they just like she's into it, so it's fine.
15:32
Speaker A: Right.
15:32
Speaker B: I guess. But I was like. I was reading this whole first part where they were flirting through the emails and I was like, girl, what. What are you doing?
15:42
Speaker A: I don't want to derail it here because I have more about this in the Lost adaptation. But that was also why I was so confused was like what you're note about that there's zero indication that they've ever interacted previously. That along with another element of it that Kind of speaks to the larger. I don't know, we'll get into it in Lost adaptation. But yeah, that whole thing was so strange to.
16:04
Speaker B: And yeah, it was also very strange reading the book.
16:07
Speaker A: Okay. I mentioned her friends, Bridget's friends earlier, but one of her friends, she also has a gay best friend, Tom maybe or something like that, who we find out wrote a popular like a pop song in the 80s that like blew up and got really big and then never did. He was a one hit wonder. Never did anything else and just has been coasting off that one hit since then. And I wanted to know if that came from, from the book.
16:31
Speaker B: She does have a gay best friend whose name is Tom. The thing to have in this time period. Yes, obviously. But he is not a former pop star coasting off of his one hit. And I'm actually, I'm not sure that the book ever even tells us exactly what he does.
16:47
Speaker A: No.
16:47
Speaker B: So they go to an art gallery once. Maybe he does something with art.
16:51
Speaker A: Maybe. I thought that was a fun running gag like that. He keeps people like, are you the guy? And he's like, yeah. And then he uses it to sleep with guys and stuff, which I thought was funny. Is Salman Rushdie in the book? That was a random movie cameo because she works at a publishing company. They're doing like a book launch and at this party for their book they're launching called oh God, a Kafka's Motorcycle I think is what it is. Incredible. You know, she. It's all his. Him being there is all the punchline for a joke where she's, she's talking about all that. She's going over the advice she got from her friends about this party and like how to like impress Daniel at this party. And one of the things is like, oh, like, you know, be confident and be smart and like have confident like intelligent conversations. And she's like thinking to herself, well, I'm probably like. Or she's. I don't know if she says it out. She's something about being like the smartest person at the party or something or the most talented writer or something like that. And then she turns around and sees Solomon Rush. She was like, oh, shit. And then there's a thing later where him and some guy are discussing some high minded literary. I don't remember what it was. And they asked for her input on it. And she's like, I don't know. And I wanted to know if Salman Rushdie's in the book.
18:05
Speaker B: I don't recall his name ever. Coming up So I think that was just a random movie cameo.
18:10
Speaker A: I think it is. I think I remember reading about it in the trivia that it was like he knew somebody, somebody knew him or something. If somebody involved in the production somehow was like friends or knew him or something, was just like, hey, come be in this movie. He was like, all right. We then get this side plot. We start this side plot that Bridget's mom is like having a bit of a late life crisis where she decides she needs to like have a career now. Yeah, she's probably in her six seventies, sixties. I don't know how old she's supposed.
18:43
Speaker B: To be, I think.
18:45
Speaker A: And she decides she wants to have a career because she doesn't really have anything going on. And so the first time part of we see this is she's working at like the counter, like a Macy's kind of store, it seems like, or whatever. But she's selling this egg shelling device that I assume is for hard boiled eggs. It would have to be the way that they use it. And it's this big tube and she puts an egg in it and then she like pumps it. It's all there to be like a sex joke. Cause it's very phallic looking. And then the egg comes out the end. Like the hard boiled egg comes out of the shell in the end and she's like, look. And that peels your egg for you. But then after it finishes, the egg comes out like some white goo squirts out of it. Sex gag I've ever seen. And I wanted to know if it came from the book because it was so strange.
19:33
Speaker B: It does not come from the book. And I don't know if I dare to ask what the goo that shot out was supposed to be.
19:41
Speaker A: It's not supposed to be anything. It's supposed to be haha. That looks like.
19:44
Speaker B: Well, no, I know that.
19:45
Speaker A: I know. But like. But like that's why it's a bad joke.
19:48
Speaker B: I know. I'm just saying like, am I supposed to think that this thing like liquefied the eggshell?
19:54
Speaker A: It's the only thing it could be.
19:56
Speaker B: But why? How? What would liquefy the eggshell but not the egg?
20:00
Speaker A: Like I said, it's a terrible joke.
20:02
Speaker B: It's a really bad, stupid.
20:03
Speaker A: It's really the only like thing like that in the movie. That felt like really, like, what are we. It's like a weird. Like it felt like it's from a different movie. Yeah, like this movie is crass in certain ways, but it's usually smart. And crass and not like lowest common denominator.
20:19
Speaker B: Like, more like it was from like a raunchy bro.
20:22
Speaker A: Like Dumb and Dumber or something like that. Not even saying that, like Dumb and Dumber is a bad movie necessarily. I don't even know. I. It's been so long since I've seen it. But like it's felt like that kind of joke. Like one of those, like Farley brothers or not Farley Brothers, but like, you know, like it's something from an Adam Sandler movie or something. It just didn't feel like something from this film.
20:39
Speaker B: Yeah, no, I agree. In the book, her mom does get a job, but it's a job hosting either a TV program or a segment on. On a TV program. Unclear. But it's called Suddenly Single. And the premise is that she interviews people who have recently left long term relationships. But the only thing we ever see her ask people is, have you ever had suicidal thoughts? It's like a running gag.
21:08
Speaker A: So it's like a running gag that's like a kind of a meta joke about Bridget being single. Like perpetually single. Like, her mom is doing this talk show. Okay, well then. And that's the other thing is that. So then her mom does end up getting this moving on from there. She actually meets a guy who works for essentially qvc, like British version of qvc, I guess. I don't know. I don't know what it's called over there, but. And he's like the sales guy. And then she starts dating him and leaves her Bridget's dad and becomes like a sales rep with him on tv, like selling hawking jewelry and stuff on this British QVC channel. I for sure thought he was gay, mainly because they kept setting up stuff that made me think that the joke was gonna be that, like, she leaves the dad for him, thinking they're gonna get in a. But then it turns out he's gay and she didn't realize that. You know what I mean? Like, that's what I thought the joke was going to be. Because he's like, there's lots of things about him. Like, and especially for this movie of the time period, he's like going to get his nails done. He's doing all these very like, fussy, preening kind of things. And in things that, especially in an early 2000s comedy are ways that we code characters as gay. And so I really thought that was going to be the joke. But then she talks about having sex with them later. And again, not that gay men can't have sex with women, but I just thought it was. So I couldn't figure out what was going on there. Did any of that come from the book?
22:35
Speaker B: So her mom does have a 3/4 life crisis in the book and she leaves her dad for a man named Julio. I had been pronouncing his name Julio.
22:48
Speaker A: Is it not Julio?
22:49
Speaker B: Well, so I, I don't know. Maybe this is a British thing. So I had been pronouncing it Julio because that's generally the way that that name is pronounced.
22:58
Speaker A: J U, L, I, O.
22:59
Speaker B: Yes. And also the book says that he's Latin, which I don't know if that's supposed to mean that he's actually Latino or that he's from like Spain or. Yeah, I really don't know. And he's not like a QVC rep in the book. I don't. Well, we learn what he does later. I'll talk more about that in a bit. And he is supposed to be like, very kind of suave and manicured, but it didn't read to me like the book was trying to code him as gay, but more like, like a ladies man, like player kind of type.
23:39
Speaker A: That character archetype existed too, but the way he's portrayed in the movie to me felt much more like this is a gay character. Like a good. Yeah.
23:49
Speaker B: The dated term from that era that comes to mind is metrosexual.
23:53
Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. Yes. So we're gonna jump forward quite a bit here, but we move forward to. Bridget has started dating Daniel and they go on this trip to the countryside, primarily because Bridget's family is throwing a Tarts and Vickers party. Which is, this is one of the things that, to me, I was like, do British people have this many themed parties? Cause there's also like the thing later with the Ruby engagement. Like who?
24:19
Speaker B: Well, Ruby is the traditional, the 40th anniversary thing.
24:25
Speaker A: I guess it's because they're rich that they do stuff like that. Maybe that's why, because his family's rich. But it just. There was too many, like, themed parties in this movie. I was like, what is, what are British people up to over there? I don't know. Like, I don't know. It just.
24:37
Speaker B: What are y'all up to? Brits?
24:38
Speaker A: Yeah. What are you guys on about over there? And I, I, I have heard of Tarts and Vickers party before, I think from just watching tv, because we don't do those. Well, that's not entirely true that the concept kind of exists over here, but it's usually, it's not. Well, for one it's not called the Tarts and Vickers party because that's very British. But. But even still, it's not really that much. Like it kind of is in college. Like there are times, like, I don't know what we call them. There are parties that are like, where like the guys dress up like priests or whatever and the women dress up like prostitutes or like sexy nuns.
25:10
Speaker B: Oh, are there?
25:11
Speaker A: Yeah. Have you never. They got a different name here. They're not called Tarts and Vicar's parties. It's probably a more problematic name. It's probably like called like priests and sluts or something. I don't know. Or priests and prostitutes. I don't, I don't know. But I swear I've. Even still, they're not like a huge thing and I don't know if they're still a thing in Britain or not, but she goes to her. And also it's a family party. That's the.
25:35
Speaker B: Yeah, that's the really weird.
25:37
Speaker A: Sorry, that's the part that I was mainly wanted to talk about. Are you British people throwing like slutty dress up parties with like your aunts and uncles? Because that's what this is. She goes to a party with like her parents and aunts and uncles and.
25:51
Speaker B: Like all of their older, older relatives.
25:54
Speaker A: And it's like, it's a Tarts and Vickers party. We're all going to dress up as prostitutes and like, again, that's like a college party thing here in America.
26:02
Speaker B: Yeah.
26:02
Speaker A: Like stuff like that happens. But you don't, like, you don't have like family parties like that. At least I don't know anybody that's ever done family parties like that. That's a whole different discussion about prudence in Americans. I'm not. Not even. That's a whole different thing. This is just weird, I think, having like a sexy dress up party. Because it's explicitly a sexy dress up party.
26:23
Speaker B: Yes.
26:24
Speaker A: With your family.
26:25
Speaker B: With your family.
26:26
Speaker A: Very strange to me. But anyways, does that come from the. Oh, and the whole gist of it, the whole joke, is that they changed the theme and decided not to do a Tarts and Vickers party, but they forgot to tell Bridget. So she shows up dressed as a Playboy bunny.
26:39
Speaker B: Yeah.
26:40
Speaker A: And everybody else, for the most part. Most of the other people are dressed like in normal clothes. Yeah.
26:44
Speaker B: They're wearing like garden party attire.
26:46
Speaker A: And I wouldn't know if that came from the book.
26:49
Speaker B: It does. And it plays out almost exactly like we see in the movie.
26:53
Speaker A: Is she a Playboy bunny?
26:55
Speaker B: Yes, she. They don't call it a Playboy bunny. She says it's a bunny girl costume.
26:59
Speaker A: I don't know if they ever say that in the movie either. They say bunny. Yeah, yeah. They probably brand new, like, copyright reasons. They don't mention Playboy.
27:06
Speaker B: But I have to go back for a minute because I realized I forgot to explain why I. The. The Julio. Julio.
27:15
Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's right.
27:17
Speaker B: So I was again pronouncing it Julio in my head. And then I decided to listen to the audiobook for part of this. And the woman reading the audiobook was pronouncing it Julio.
27:30
Speaker A: I don't know.
27:31
Speaker B: So I don't know if you're British.
27:33
Speaker A: Let us know if that's maybe common over there for people named Julio to go as by Julio. Because over here we got a whole song about it. It's me and Julio down by the schoolyard. I don't like. Yeah. So as I mentioned, her and Daniel have been dating for a while at this point. And sleeping. Primarily sleeping together, but dating as. And he was on this trip with her, but he has to rush back to London because he has a big meeting the next day that he needs to prepare for with a British or American rep or whatever from their company is coming to visit. And she's like, well, that sucks. Okay. But then she goes back, and she goes to see him when she gets back from her party. And when she gets to his apartment, she discovers that the American rep that he was supposed to be meeting tomorrow is there now, and she's naked and Daniel's sleeping with her. And I wanted to know if that played out like that. If she discovers that Daniel's sleeping with another woman.
28:28
Speaker B: Yes. And this is also almost identical, except for a few details. The biggest being that instead of her hiding in the bathroom, the other woman is sunbathing naked on Daniel's rooftop.
28:41
Speaker A: How does she find that?
28:43
Speaker B: So that brings me to my next note. Another change. Is Bridget being tipped off by the pink sweater by the door? Yeah, in the book.
28:51
Speaker A: In the movie, she sees a pink.
28:53
Speaker B: Cardigan hanging by the door. In the book, she's, like, looked all around the apartment. She didn't find anything. And decided she was, like, imagining things, blowing it out of proportion. And then she hears a noise coming from up on the roof and, like, runs up there and sees her.
29:08
Speaker A: Yeah. So when she discovers Laura, who is the American that Daniel is sleeping with, Laura sees her and her response is just to say, I thought you said she was thin. And I wanted to know if that came from the book. Cause I was Confused at what? Like, why she would say that right then. And I was like, I guess it's just to be cruel to Bridget, I guess is the idea. But is that from the book?
29:32
Speaker B: This is from the book. And, yeah, I think the cruelty was the point.
29:36
Speaker A: Okay. It just felt so random. And I was like, okay. Because I was like, I don't know. But it makes sense, though. She's like, I guess, do we ever find out? Did Laura know? I guess she must have known.
29:47
Speaker B: Yeah, she must have. Because Daniel clearly mentioned Bridget.
29:50
Speaker A: Yeah. And she was just fine with it, I guess.
29:52
Speaker B: I guess.
29:52
Speaker A: I don't know.
29:53
Speaker B: And she was willing to hide.
29:54
Speaker A: Yeah, that's true.
29:55
Speaker B: While Bridget was there.
29:56
Speaker A: But also does a terrible job of it because she makes a bunch of noise.
29:59
Speaker B: And that's what initially pisses us off. Yeah. And in the movie, she leaves her sweater out. So she clearly wanted Bridget to find her.
30:06
Speaker A: Yeah. Or they just forgot about the sweater. I think is maybe. I think the implication is that, like, they were, like, in the bedroom. And then Bridget shows up. And he's like, oh, shit. Get in the bathroom. And then he runs down and opens the door.
30:22
Speaker B: Yeah.
30:22
Speaker A: And they just didn't have time. And they didn't. That's what I interpreted. Like, that scene. Like, what happened there. But. So we move forward a little bit, and Bridget is. She breaks up with Daniel. And also decides that she needs to find a new job because she can't work, obviously, Daniel is her boss. And so this is incredible. Not only incredibly awkward, but huge issue. So she needs to find a new job. But Daniel's, like, begging her to stay. He's like, look, you don't have to. Don't leave. Just keep working here. Blah, blah, blah. Tries to convince her to stay. But they kind of have a big confrontation in the office in front of everybody. And Perpetua, who has been the other secretary. I don't know. She seems to have a similar job to Bridget. Whatever. Bridget, I don't even know, necessarily. Bridget does.
31:07
Speaker B: She's like an assistant. I don't really know what she does either.
31:10
Speaker A: But it seems like Perpetua has a similar job, but she's been there longer. So she's kind of senior to Bridget. And Bridget doesn't really seem to like her all that much. They don't talk or anything. But when Bridget confronts Daniel in front of everybody and calls him out. Perpetua is weirdly proud of her and backs her up. Which I thought was really fascinating and kind of fun. And I wanted to know if that came from the book.
31:35
Speaker B: It does. Yeah. There's a really similar scene in the book where Bridget is in the office talking to Daniel. She tells him she's leaving and he tries to like shame her for that and convince her to stay. And Perpetua has been eavesdropping on them and like comes into the office and like snaps and like yells at him and is like, you left her?
31:59
Speaker A: Yeah.
32:00
Speaker B: Get over it.
32:01
Speaker A: Yeah, I liked in the movie, she basically like he. I can't remember what the exact exchange is, but he says something and Perpetua says like, if. If you don't do something, I'll fire her myself. Or I can't remember, but she does something basically saying like. She basically like threatens Daniel in a way that gives Bridget the floor to say her piece. And basically. And I thought that was really interesting to see. I found it really nice and kind of refreshing in a movie from 2001 to see this kind of camaraderie between these two female characters that have not really had a friendship prior to this for sure. It just subverted my expectations in a way that I found very interesting. Because I was fully expecting her to either side with Daniel or just. She dislikes Bridget enough that she doesn't care or whatever. But no, she sees what a creep Daniel is and like, is like supports her fellow sister. And I was like, that's nice. That's nice. Then Bridget goes to a dinner party with a bunch of other married couples. But she had forgotten she had this dinner. And she goes to this party and it's like eight other married couples. And she's like miserable about going, but she goes anyways. And then she gets there and they're all just like insufferable and talk about nothing but that being to like her being single is insane. And there's a couch. My words here. This was the most the movie ever felt self victimizing to me because I know zero couples that not zero there are. They exist. They exist, but they're usually in their 20s and not in their 30s and 40s. Yeah, I don't know. And maybe I do know these people and I'm just not. Or these people exist and I. I just don't not friends with any of them. But I. I never have been around a person. I can't fathom being a. A couple or being around other couples who like are like shaming or being weird to a single friend in your. It's insane to me. And so I could not identify with this scene at all. And it felt very like the person writing this has an ax to grind because they had a weird experience one time and so they're like, like married couples suck. They're so annoying. I'm like, are they? Anyways, does this come from the book?
34:31
Speaker B: So this specific dinner party does happen in the book. Yes. But this is also something like a repeated idea that comes up throughout the book consistently. Like the idea of how insufferable it is to be single and hanging out with a bunch of couples.
34:48
Speaker A: Yeah.
34:48
Speaker B: And I totally get the thought.
34:50
Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. I can imagine. Yeah. If you're, if you're single in your 30s and you're like, all of your friends are couples, even if they aren't saying anything, it could still just be like, I understand the experience of being awkward and like.
35:02
Speaker B: Right.
35:02
Speaker A: Annoying. And you don't want to be around a bunch of other people who are in like happy relationships while you're, you know, whatever. Sure.
35:07
Speaker B: Yeah. I do think that it's kind of undercut by the fact that Bridget has a whole friend group that's more like her.
35:16
Speaker A: Yeah.
35:16
Speaker B: Like they're either, yeah, they're either single or they're more of like in situationships.
35:20
Speaker A: Or doing the same thing. She is just like, yeah, like in on again, off again relationships and like you said, situations and stuff like that. Like, like that's her main friend group is those people. And that's the other thing I was like, is she aware she's like allowed to not go to stuff? Right. Like, why does she go, why does she go to this dinner?
35:36
Speaker B: She goes to so many events that she clearly does not want to go to. And I was like, stop. Yeah, just stop going to these things.
35:44
Speaker A: And it's like one thing with the family parties. It's like, okay, there's expectations, there's an.
35:48
Speaker B: Expectation that you're going to go home for Christmas and stuff like that. Sure.
35:52
Speaker A: But this, this dinner party with rant, it's not even like a business thing. It's. It's random couple. Like.
35:57
Speaker B: Yeah.
35:58
Speaker A: What is she getting out of? Like, why? Who cares? You don't even like these people. Why are you there? I don't understand it. And like, I guess the idea is like the social obligation. And like she has been as a woman, she's been, you know, kind of not groomed, but has been. What is the word I'm looking for? Socialized into by society into like feeling like she has to go to these sorts of things, you know, even if she doesn't want to. And that like, that's part of her duty as like a. You Know a woman to be social and go these kind of events. But I'm like, did people. Do people. I guess people feel that way? I don't know, because is this such a weird. And this is another. Like I said, it's one of those scenes where I just felt like I don't relate to this at all.
36:35
Speaker B: I don't know. And I guess it's, like, not as easy as just saying, oh, she doesn't have to go. But it is also true that she doesn't.
36:43
Speaker A: Yeah.
36:44
Speaker B: And also find better married friends.
36:47
Speaker A: Yeah.
36:48
Speaker B: Because, like, those guys are assholes.
36:49
Speaker A: Yeah. It's so weird.
36:52
Speaker B: I don't know. There were like. And I talked more about. I talked more about this later. I think I have this in. Yeah, I have this in a later segment. But there were, like, numerous times throughout the book where I was like, are there people that act like this?
37:07
Speaker A: Yeah.
37:08
Speaker B: Like, are there people in. In the world.
37:10
Speaker A: Yeah.
37:11
Speaker B: Who are like this?
37:12
Speaker A: I don't know. Well, it's funny because it actually made me feel a little bit like. Or it actually kind of reminded me of this idea of, like, a more relatable experience that I do have experience with that's a relatable. Or a similar situation would be like going to a party where all of the other couples have kids and you don't have kids. But that being said, I don't. It's not that it never happens, but at least amongst people I know. And like, like, none of my friends that have kids are, like, weird about it.
37:44
Speaker B: No, I agree. And maybe we just have really good friends.
37:47
Speaker A: I don't know.
37:48
Speaker B: Maybe we just have really good friends. But, like, no, like, because I have plenty of friends that have kids. And I, you know, like, last summer I went and stayed with three of my oldest friends. They all have kids. We don't have kids. And none of them, like, they didn't, like, spend the weekend badgering me about when I was gonna have kids and why don't I have kids? Because that would be weird.
38:11
Speaker A: Right? And that's like. Yeah, that can be a thing with, like, family members. Ye stuff more than other. But, like, yeah, it's like, who does? And. And like. And, like. Because I'm like, yeah. And even, like, because. Because that's the thing I see people complain about today. Even still, people without kids being like, I hate being around all these people with kids because all they talk about is their kids and they don't want to. Oh, they. They pester like, when are you gonna have kids. Kids or something? I'm like, who are you hanging out with that does this? Because again, my friends don't do that. I. That have kids and like, sure, they talk about their kids, but like, a normal amount I feel like, like, and in a way that I find interesting, like, I don't. Because maybe it's just that I don' I'm like, I find it kind of interesting when my friends talk about their kids. I'm like, oh, that's cool. Like, whatever. Like, I don't, I don't know, I.
38:52
Speaker B: Think maybe we must just have good friends.
38:54
Speaker A: Maybe that's what it is.
38:56
Speaker B: Because, like, I'm not trying to like, deny anyone's experience of being like, harassed by their, by their married friends or their friends with kids.
39:05
Speaker A: But, like, this is not an experience I have. And it's just very interesting to me that it, it's seemingly because again, like I said, the friend or the kids thing is a thing I see people complain about like on the Internet today and I'm like, hang out with different people. I don't know what to tell some people. People with kids can be normal people that you can just hang out and be friends with. They don't all just like, only talk about children and ask when you're having kids. I don't know what your experience is where that's the only thing you see. But again, yeah, like you said not to invalidate people's experience because if that is happening, that sucks. And I'm sorry for you. But like, like, not, I don't know, it's interesting. So at the end of this party, as she, she decides to leave or she thinks she leaves earlier, so I can't remember.
39:49
Speaker B: Mark and Natasha are also at this party.
39:51
Speaker A: Yes, that's the other thing. Mark and Natasha are there as well, but as she's leaving, she kind of goes down and she's walking out in the foyer and she's grabbing her stuff. And when this is happening, Mark runs down and stops her and he has this, gives her this big speech, kind of comes out of nowhere. And he's going on about like, hey, blah, blah, blah, I like you very much, actually. And she, and she kind of responds by saying, apart from the drinking, oh, sure, I'm sure you like me. Apart from the drinking and the smoking and the vulgar mother. And he cuts her off in the middle of the list and says, no, I like you very much as you are. It's a very good line. And I wanted to know if that whole exchange came from the book, because I was like, this is. It's been a while since I've watched Pride and Prejudice, but I was like, this is the gazebo scene in Pride and Prejudice from my memory, and I wanted to know if this was in the book, because it is. Like I said, that gazebo scene.
40:44
Speaker B: I don't think any of this is from the book. Oh, interesting. I went back and looked to where this scene kind of would have been, and I searched the ebook for a couple different variations of just as you are, and I didn't find anything really.
41:01
Speaker A: Okay. Interesting. That's like, the whole thing in the movie. Like, that becomes. From this moment to the end, it.
41:06
Speaker B: Kind of like a pivotal turning point.
41:09
Speaker A: It's like the line that is the marker of, like, oh, all of her friends are like, this is the guy. Go after him. That kind of stuff. I will say in this moment. Mark had been in the movie so little that I was like, this felt like it kind of came out of nowhere. But Colin Firth is such a good actor that he makes this scene work despite them having had very little screen time prior to this. Like, I was impressed. Like, I was like, this is still. This scene is still working for me, even though my brain is going like. Like, do you have not even really talked at all? This is weird. It just felt kind of out of nowhere. But I still.
41:46
Speaker B: I feel like Colin Firth is, like, one of those actors who just creates chemistry with anyone he's playing opposite just out of, like, the sheer force of his own chemistry.
41:59
Speaker A: Yeah, no, absolutely. Even while doing his kind of weird, like, Darcy, like, constantly standoffing, like, constantly, like, frowning, drowning thing. And. And that is not to downplay because I think Renell's Renee Zellweger is very good in this as well. And that's not to downplay how good she is in this. But, yeah, he. I think he makes a lot of that work because. Yeah, well. And, yeah, it's not to downplay Renee Zellweger because we spend a lot of time with her, so I know all about her and what's going on with her. But to feel like this scene with Colin Firth works even though he's barely been in the movie. I'm like, he's got the chops. He can. He can do it. Is everyone just smoking all the time in the book? Because I found that very funny in the movie that everybody is smoking all the time, which is, I think, just a Britain. A British thing at the time. Because it's 2000, we're in America, people.
42:48
Speaker B: Have stopped, more or less.
42:50
Speaker A: Like, people still smoke, but it Is not.
42:52
Speaker B: Like, it's not.
42:53
Speaker A: We are very much on the downward slide.
42:55
Speaker B: Yes. Of where everybody smokes on the other end of the. The smoker's peak.
43:00
Speaker A: Yeah.
43:00
Speaker B: At this point in America. But. But God, Yes. They smoke all the time in the book. I said in the prequel episode. It's diary format. And she starts almost every entry by recording different data sets. When we see that a little bit in the movie, how much she drinks.
43:19
Speaker A: How much she smokes, and what her weight is, like, the three things.
43:23
Speaker B: Sometimes in the book, she writes down fat units. And I still have not figured out what that means. I. I don't. I don't know. No, because her weight is recorded separately.
43:34
Speaker A: Oh, okay.
43:35
Speaker B: And she doesn't record the. She doesn't record that every day, but sometimes It'll say like, 130 pounds, eight fat units. And I'm like, what does that mean?
43:44
Speaker A: Maybe, like. Like she ate.
43:47
Speaker B: Maybe she's like, maybe.
43:48
Speaker A: I don't know.
43:49
Speaker B: I don't know. But the number of cigarettes that she records smoking daily.
43:55
Speaker A: We laughed at the beginning because the first one in the movie, right?
43:57
Speaker B: Yeah. Like, it's like 40 or something.
44:00
Speaker A: She reads like 48. And I was like, in a day? Was that in a day? All right, James Bond. Calm down. Like that. That is like, literally close to the numbers. Bond was pulling in the. In the book when. When his. When the head of the Mi6 was like, hey, you need to smoke less to James Bond.
44:16
Speaker B: No, I. I would guess, like, it. It kind of goes up and down throughout the year because the book chronicles an entire year.
44:24
Speaker A: Yeah.
44:25
Speaker B: And. But. But on average, it's like 20 something cigarettes a day.
44:31
Speaker A: Which. How much. How many are in a pack?
44:32
Speaker B: It's close to 20. It's like 25 or 30, I think. In a pack.
44:36
Speaker A: Yeah.
44:37
Speaker B: Insane.
44:37
Speaker A: Yeah.
44:38
Speaker B: Yeah. How do you have the pack today is like, how do you have the time?
44:42
Speaker A: Well, because they could smoke everywhere. I mean, you see, that's. You can have the time here because they're smoking in their office. They're smoking, like, inside. Like, it's. It's different than. Because in America at this point, by 2001, we were. I think we're getting around the time where everything. Like, you weren't smoking in offices anymore.
44:57
Speaker B: No, no. You weren't smoking in offices anymore. Rest restaurants usually had smoking, still had smoking areas. But that was on the downslide, too. Some places might have had, like, a smoking lounge.
45:10
Speaker A: Yeah.
45:11
Speaker B: Like.
45:11
Speaker A: Like. Cause like, in college, we still had a smoking lounge. Yes.
45:14
Speaker B: Like my freshman year, I think we went I want to say we got rid of the smoker's lounge and towers, like my sophomore, junior year.
45:22
Speaker A: Yeah. It was while we were in school.
45:24
Speaker B: Yeah. So that would have been the early 2010s.
45:26
Speaker A: Yeah, but. And like, even then, I don't think a ton of people used it because we were at the point where, like, very few college students were smoking regularly, at least at that point. So. Yeah. Yeah. It's just so funny. But I. But the movie also knows it's funny. Like, the movie is kind of doing a joke because there's so many moments where, like, it feels like there's that particular. The reason I wrote this down is when they're at her birthday party and we get that shot of her friends.
45:51
Speaker B: Yes.
45:51
Speaker A: All sitting around the table and they're all holding a cigarette. That felt like an intentional comedic. Like, haha, everybody. Everybody's smoking all the time kind of thing.
46:00
Speaker B: Yeah.
46:00
Speaker A: So at her birthday party, Mark shows up, helps her cook dinner. And then afterwards Daniel stumbles in drunk, trying to, like, get Bridget back. And then afterwards Mark decides to leave, but then comes back and is like, no, I gotta fight you, Daniel. And challenge. My favorite part of that scene was he's like, should I bring my dueling pistols or swords or whatever? But they go out in the street and they have a fist fight. And I wanted to know if that came from the book.
46:28
Speaker B: No, none of that is from the book. They do not have a fist fight.
46:32
Speaker A: It's a funny.
46:33
Speaker B: I really liked that scene. Yeah, I thought it was really funny. I liked that the movie committed to them being really bad at fighting.
46:42
Speaker A: Yes. They're like, they. No idea. Two guys clearly haven't fought since like, elementary school or something like that.
46:48
Speaker B: If ever.
46:49
Speaker A: If ever. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, they're just. They have no idea what they're doing. They're just like, flailing around and occasionally landing a punch or whatever. Also that, like, neither of their hearts are really in it. Like, is, I think, another part of it. Like they're. Yeah. It's just. I thought it was very funny. But this. Right after this, we find out. So Bridget's all mad at both of them, obviously, but she's particularly mad at Mark because she does like, why are you. Like, she didn't think this was the kind of guy he was to just like, come in and like, fight Daniel and like, whatever. And then at the end of the fight, he, like, knocks him out. And she's like, what? Like, what is your problem? Because she is operating under the assumption based on what Daniel Told her that the reason Daniel and Mark aren't friends anymore is because Mark slept with Daniel's fiance.
47:34
Speaker B: Yes.
47:35
Speaker A: And that's what ended their friendship. It is then revealed in the scene after the fight when she's hanging, she's at her parents house and her mom comes back and somehow her mom knows. Knows. I don't remember what happened.
47:45
Speaker B: Yeah, her mom knows this gossip.
47:47
Speaker A: I don't remember how that happened. But anyways, her mom knows the gossip that in fact it was the other way around. It's revealed that Daniel was the one that slept with Mark's fiance and that's why they aren't friends anymore. And I wanted to know if that came from the book. That like that twist reveal kind of thing which I saw coming from like a billion miles away. Obviously.
48:04
Speaker B: But yeah, I mean, obviously Daniel the womanizer was the one who did the sleeping with somebody else else's. Yeah.
48:10
Speaker A: And. And Marx clearly hates him much more than Daniel hates him. Which makes. Would make no sense.
48:16
Speaker B: Yeah.
48:17
Speaker A: Like Mark's clearly the one who's like holding a grudge here. And if he was the one that cheated, wouldn't make it like again. So it's very clear that. Yeah, but this is coming from the book.
48:27
Speaker B: So it is eventually revealed that this is why Mark doesn't like Daniel. But the movie actually added the twist of Daniel lying to Bridget about it first, which is actually more in line with Pride and Prejudice.
48:40
Speaker A: I don't remember. What's the.
48:42
Speaker B: So mark is Mr. Darcy, obviously. He's literally named Darcy Daniel. Mr. Wickham.
48:49
Speaker A: Yes.
48:49
Speaker B: And early on in Pride and Prejudice, like around when we first are interacting with Mr. Wickham, he tells Lizzie that him and Darcy don't get along because Darcy's father had like left an inheritance to him. And then Darcy refused to pay that inheritance after. I might be getting a detail or two wrong there. It's been a minute, but that's basically the gist of it. But then we find out at the end that actually what happened was that he did get the inheritance and spent it all and then came back demanding more money to which Mr. Darcy was like, no. And then he tried to elope with Mr. Darcy's sister.
49:28
Speaker A: Okay.
49:29
Speaker B: To like squeeze that more money out of them.
49:32
Speaker A: Yeah. So yeah, it's actually more of a direct reference to Pride and Prejudice. There's a line that I wanted to know when. When I think this is during the scene where she first. It's a little confusing because we have multiple like there are kind of multiple.
49:48
Speaker B: Like starts and stops.
49:49
Speaker A: Yes, to them, like, getting together. And I'm trying to remember when this exchange happens in the.
49:54
Speaker B: I think this particular line.
49:56
Speaker A: Yeah, it's got to be because it's before my question about him leaving for New York. So this has got to be.
50:00
Speaker B: Yeah, they're at the RWBY party and she's, like, talking to him about. She's, like, confessing her feelings.
50:06
Speaker A: She confesses her feelings to him. And one of the things she says, she basically gives a speech very similar to what he gave her at the dinner party earlier. But I wanted to know if one of these lines, if this specific line came from the book, because I thought it was funny, which she says, I seriously believe that you should rethink the length of your sideburns. Which was funny because he has these big, long sideburns. I just thought it was. I want to know if it came from the book.
50:28
Speaker B: It is not from the book. I do think it's an intentional reference to him having played Mr. Darcy. He has the, like, mutton chops in.
50:39
Speaker A: Oh, so she's saying he should have longer, perhaps, because he has fairly long sideburns in the. In this movie. And I thought she meant they should be shorter, but she's saying, no, no, I want the Darcy full chop, perhaps.
50:52
Speaker B: I don't know.
50:53
Speaker A: All right, and then my last question here. Well, actually, sorry, I haven't.
50:58
Speaker B: You have several questions.
51:01
Speaker A: All my questions together at the end here. So the big climax of the movie is that she confesses her feelings to Mark, but then finds out that Mark is leaving to go move to New York with. To. For a big new job in New York with Natasha. They're both going back to New York or to New York. And there's allusions to, like, oh, maybe they'll get engaged. There's nothing concrete there. But like her parent.
51:24
Speaker B: Mark's parents clearly seem to think that they're going to get engaged.
51:28
Speaker A: Yeah, she is confessed, but he's gonna go back to New York. So he leaves for his big job in New York and we see him fly to America and get to New York, and he's there. Then he reappears on her street. Then. I don't know how to ask this. Rolling all my questions together. Man, it's really funny. They're gonna kiss, but then they stop for some reason and they go up into her apartment, and then in her apartment, they're about to kiss again. Before she kisses him, she realizes, oh, I'm not going to mess it up this time. I want to put on sexy underwear so that I'M ready. Because this is like a sexy underwear moment instead of like the.
52:04
Speaker B: Yeah.
52:05
Speaker A: Granny panties or whatever. So she goes into a room and she tells him to read something and she'll be right back. And what he find? He finds her diary. And he reads her diary. And her diary is full of stuff. A lot of it. Very like not nice things about him.
52:19
Speaker B: Yeah, he reads like old.
52:20
Speaker A: Yeah, the first part or whatever. And then he leaves and she sees him leaving and so then she gets. She runs after him in just her underwear and finds him on a street corner and he's coming out of a shop and it turns out he was buying her a new diary. And then they kiss and ha. Yay, happy ending. And so let's start there. And that, that's. And I'll get to the line I have here after that. Does that all come from the book? And I will say him buying her the new diary, while sweet, was not what I was expecting. I want to get into what I thought was going to happen there at the end because I had a different ending in mind. Of what? How I thought this was all going down, but that all of I've described so far. Does that come from the book?
53:08
Speaker B: All right, so the reason that I lumped all of your questions together is because none of the movies ending is from the book.
53:14
Speaker A: Okay.
53:15
Speaker B: So I didn't want to have to just give you five no's before we finally got to this discussion. Okay, so the book's ending is certifiably insane. Kind of fun, kind of interesting, but like insane.
53:30
Speaker A: Okay.
53:31
Speaker B: All right. So you remember how the big turning point in Pride and Prejudice is Lydia running off with Wickham and then Darcy goes and finds them and basically pays off Wickham so that he'll marry Lydia and the Bennetts won't be ruined.
53:47
Speaker A: Vaguely, yes.
53:48
Speaker B: Okay, well, in the book, Bridget's mom runs off to Portugal with Julio.
53:57
Speaker A: Okay.
53:58
Speaker B: And it then comes out that Julio has scammed a bunch of their friends out of money in a timeshare scheme. And nobody knows how like, involved or aware Mrs. Jones actually was about the whole thing. So Mark goes to Portugal and finds her and flexes his lawyer power. I don't know exactly what he did. It's all discussed in a very vague way to get her to then come back to England and work with the police against Julio.
54:32
Speaker A: Okay. And just for correction, barrister power. Not lawyer power.
54:35
Speaker B: Whatever. Barrister power. They also call him a lawyer at different points. To be fair. I really liked the end of the movie. Yeah, I think it's Way more in line with a typical, like, romantic comedy formula, which I could see being a downside for some people. But I also think it feels more like a solid close to the story than what happens in the book.
55:01
Speaker A: Yeah, no, I didn't really have any issues with the ending. It's a little. It felt a little like, okay, now he's leaving. It felt a little stop and start.
55:09
Speaker B: Like, I have a. Yeah, I have a note about that later.
55:11
Speaker A: Oh, we're getting into that. Oh, no. Okay, now we gotta. Oh, now he's leaving. Yeah, it still was fine. Like, it still worked overall, and I enjoyed it and thought it was a satisfying ending. Before I get to my last question about the last line, what I thought was gonna happen here. Because him buying the diary was not what I expected. Well, it is. I didn't know what was happening here. Cause when he storms out after reading the diary, I was like, oh, where's this going? This is interesting. And she sees him, like, walking down the street, and she runs after him. We don't know where he is. But then we see him emerge from this storm. And to me, it looked like a jewelry store in the window. And so what I thought was gonna happen there was going to be that he had a ring and that he was gonna propose. And the reason was because she assumed he read all the bad stuff. But what actually happened is that once she started liking him, she wrote very nice stuff later that we didn't see. Cause we see her flip through and she's reading the parts that's like. And we see him read that part.
56:15
Speaker B: Yeah.
56:15
Speaker A: Which is the like, he sucks. I hate him. He's the worst. Or whatever. But I assumed at some point maybe she started writing nice things about him. And I was thinking what had happened was that he was gonna get back. Like, he was gonna come out and he was gonna have a ring and just be like, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Because if anybody. Anybody that writes the things you wrote about me in that book is the person, you know, something like that, like, he. She read, wrote something incredibly sweet. And. And he knew in that moment, reading what she wrote about him, him, this is who I want to spend my life with. And that's where I thought the ending was going. And I still think the diary thing's fine. And my ending maybe was a little more. Doesn't maybe fit in his character. I don't think him, like, immediately proposing.
56:56
Speaker B: Yeah. I don't think he would jump the gun like that.
56:59
Speaker A: Yeah. And that's Fair. So, like, I understand that, but that. That's what I thought was happening there. But the last question I had is this a great line? I was not expecting it at all, and I. I just loved it. But it was. It's the final line of the movie. Movie is they finally kiss on the street in front of everybody in the snow in her underwear, and they're kissing, and then they stop kissing briefly, and she kind of, like, takes a step back and looks at him and goes, nice boys don't kiss like that. And he goes, oh, yes, they fucking do. And they keep kissing. And I was like, yeah. And I wanted to know if that came from the book.
57:34
Speaker B: It does not. But I also really liked that last line.
57:38
Speaker A: It's great. It's so good. Good. All right, we have quite a bit to discuss in Lost, an adaptation. So let's get into it.
57:45
Speaker B: Just show me the way to get out of here, and I'll be on my way.
57:50
Speaker A: Yes, yes.
57:52
Speaker B: And I want to get unlost as soon as possible.
57:54
Speaker A: I alluded to this earlier, the skirt exchange. I was so confused. And so my confusion was twofold. One, they hadn't really interacted, and I thought she hated him. And two, the whole premise of this movie is that she's, like, an unwanted woman, right?
58:12
Speaker B: Yeah.
58:12
Speaker A: Like, she's, like, ugly or not ugly, but she's, like, fat or whatever. And, like, she needs to, like, change all these things about her because guys don't like her or whatever. And so I was very confused when Hugh Grant, the hot boss, is like, we should have sex. I love you. Like, here's what I thought was happening, happening. And also, it's not helped by the Britishness of it all. Like, then the way they write and her, like, what she's saying. I had a hard time parsing, like, literally what the email he wrote to her said was. What I thought this was gonna be was that. That first email about the skirt being late to work. I thought she. The whole thing was gonna be that she. He had a typo and she misinterpreted it as flirting. And then she starts flirting back, and this, like, causes a big issue or whatever when he was never flirting with her. And that's what I thought was going on. And so I was like, oh, he meant, like, instead of skirt, he meant, like, you're. I don't even know. I would have to. I'd have to go back and watch the scene again. The way it was written was so stupid. And it's not how people talk. I was like, what is. What is this email even saying? Like, I don't understand what this message says. And so I super thought it was a typo that she was misinterpreting as flirting. And then it was gonna kind of again, spiral into this, like, miscommunication that led to hijinks, and maybe that did ultimately lead to them, like, hooking up or something. But I thought that was where it was going. And then for it just to be like, oh, no, he's just, like, sexually harassing her. I was like, wait, that's what's going on. Because then the scene, it keeps playing out and they keep going, and then he starts texting her back. I'm like, oh, no, he meant to do that. Oh, what is happening? Is there any more. Do you have any more context? Because I. The skirt thing. Thing. I would have to watch it again. I think a big issue was with. It is just her accent mixed with the way British people talk in early 2000s made. No. An email made no sense to me or something. I don't know.
1:00:10
Speaker B: Okay, so where do I start? So, first of all, I don't think she hates him at the beginning. She has a crush on him. Him.
1:00:23
Speaker A: Okay. I got the impression that she didn't like him.
1:00:26
Speaker B: No, she has a crush on him, but he's, like, unattainable.
1:00:29
Speaker A: Right.
1:00:29
Speaker B: Or so she thinks.
1:00:30
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:00:31
Speaker B: Because she thinks of herself as, like, fat and ugly and unwantable.
1:00:36
Speaker A: Yeah. And I guess my. Yeah, that was. Sorry. But that was my big confusion was like, I thought that was. The whole premise was like, sorry, sorry, sorry. Just go.
1:00:44
Speaker B: I'm sorry. But then. So she. She goes to. So she. She decides to make these changes.
1:00:50
Speaker A: Right.
1:00:50
Speaker B: So she goes to the office wearing this mini skirt. Like, she dresses up, like, sexy and wears this miniskirt to the office. And then he messages her with the great early 2000s flirting, and in the language of formal business communication, makes a reference to her skirt being absent from work because it's so short that it practically isn't there.
1:01:19
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:01:20
Speaker B: And then they just keep anthropomorphizing the skirt.
1:01:23
Speaker A: Right. I got there eventually.
1:01:25
Speaker B: Yeah.
1:01:26
Speaker A: I eventually got. I, like, picked up what was happening. It was just that initial interaction was so weird and so, like, oh, I.
1:01:33
Speaker B: Had to read it a couple times to figure out what was going on.
1:01:37
Speaker A: It was like, if I had paused it and rewound it, like, three times, I think it wouldn't be having this issue. But it, like, the wording was so strange and stilted that I was like, what are they even saying. And then, like. And it was all. Again, it was all amplified by the fact that, like, I thought the whole idea was that, like, a guy like her wouldn't want a guy like. Or a guy like him wouldn't be into a guy like, I.
1:02:00
Speaker B: Well.
1:02:00
Speaker A: And then she doesn't even seem that surpri. I don't know. The way that all played out felt weird to me. I did not think it worked.
1:02:09
Speaker B: I don't know. I think, particularly in moments like those. And I know the movie has some voiceover from her in it, but I think, like I said in a moment particularly like, that we do kind of suffer from not having her direct narration.
1:02:28
Speaker A: Yeah. There might even be. And I just missed it.
1:02:31
Speaker B: Whereas, you know, in the book, obviously, it's her diary, so we're reading her literal version of events and thoughts about it. So I don't know that it's necessarily that she would have. Should have been surprised by it, but that it happens. And she kind of just immediately is like, oh, well, I must be doing something right.
1:02:58
Speaker A: Okay, that's interesting because. Yeah, I think that was the thing that confused me is that she so immediately is like, oh, yeah. And I'm returning without being like, wait, is he actually like, is this a mistake? Like, what is he? She doesn't question it. She just immediately, like, responds like, oh, yeah, and starts flirting back with him. I'm like, so you just. You just. You assume he. I don't know.
1:03:20
Speaker B: Yeah, it's like.
1:03:21
Speaker A: I thought the whole thing was, like, she doesn't have the confidence in herself to, like. So why is she like, oh, well, clearly this super hot boss is flirting with me now. Like, that's what's going on here.
1:03:29
Speaker B: So I struggled with the book on a lot of different levels, but one thing that I think the book does really well is present an extremely layered person.
1:03:42
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:03:42
Speaker B: In Bridget.
1:03:43
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:03:44
Speaker B: In that, like, she. I. I found it, like, very realistic to how I felt at different points in my life where you. You do feel like you can feel, like, very, like, lacking confidence and very, like, oh, I'm so ugly. I'm so fat, nobody's ever gonna want me. But then as soon as somebody does show interest, you are, like, right back on top again, and you're like, oh, well, actually, I must be a sex goddess because now this guy who's really hot is into me.
1:04:22
Speaker A: And I think that makes sense. And I think that comes across in the movie, even. I think my issue was that it was so early in the movie, and I knew so Little about who she was as a character at this point, that I was having trouble. Trouble parsing why she so quickly, like, assumed it was flirting and bought into it when. And I. And again, that was exacerbated by the fact that I could hardly parse what the email even meant to begin with. So I was like, what does that even mean? And then. But she immediately flirts back. I'm like, why would you assume that was flirting? If you are somebody who doesn't think that this guy would ever want you, you just immediately are like, oh, he's flirting with. But I. I think your point is very accurate. That. And I think the movie does a good job that as the movie goes on, we see that, yeah, she's a very layered, like, realistic portrayal of a person who. Whose confidence ebbs and flows and, like, sometimes they feel good about themselves and sometimes they feel terrible about themselves. And that's, I think, the very realistic portrayal that a lot of us deal with. I think most. Almost everybody, like, goes through that. And so that makes perfect sense to me. And like I said, I think the movie even does a fairly good job of it. I think the issue I had, it was just so early in the movie, I didn't know who she was yet, so it felt like. I don't know, it just felt weird.
1:05:32
Speaker B: Right. Well, and I think another maybe kind of small disservice that the movie does is initially setting her up in, like, that very first opening scene as, like, very frumpy.
1:05:46
Speaker A: Yes, like, frumpy. And, like, can't.
1:05:48
Speaker B: Like.
1:05:49
Speaker A: And, like, a complete dunce. Or not dunce, but, like a complete, like, foot in mouth, like, can't.
1:05:54
Speaker B: Which, I mean, she does have, like, I think, aspects of that to her personality. But the movie almost sets it up.
1:06:03
Speaker A: As, like, that's just all she is.
1:06:05
Speaker B: At the beginning, at least. But then she, like, reinvents herself, whereas that's not necessarily the vibe that I got in the book.
1:06:12
Speaker A: Yeah, well, and. And I do think ultimately, I. I don't know, it isn't worth talking about any longer because we've already covered it. But ultimately, the movie. I don't. I don't think she reinvents herself in the movie either. She's still the same person that she is. And that's, like, the point of the movie. Movie. So it's not. It's not that she. Again, whatever. I'm just repeating myself. But it's just that at that point, I didn't know who she was as a character. So it just felt like I felt it just felt weird. It just. I was like, I don't understand what's happening here. This doesn't feel like how a person would respond to this. Especially a person who all we know about them is that they're very self conscious and like think that their boss is like the hottest person to ever exist. They just assume their boss wants to have sex with them the first time. They like, who is this person? This is a weird person. And then as you learn more about her, I'm like, okay, yeah, sure, I get, I get this. But I think the movie struggled in the first, like 20 minutes and then got better as it went. But whatever. What is Sit Up Britain? She gets a job after she leaves the publisher, she gets a job at a TV company called Sit Up Britain as like a. They put her on camera, I don't know, they say like a production assistant, I think, initially, but then she ends up on camera, like pretty quickly. And I couldn't figure out what Sit Up Britain was like, what kind of show it was. They seem to be doing, like news, not news, like lifestyle newsy kind of segments, like a morning show or something. But one of the stories that she does is that she goes out to a fire station and then she slides down a fire pole and then slides ass first onto a camera that's at the.
1:07:40
Speaker B: Yeah.
1:07:41
Speaker A: Is there. Does any of this come from the book? And is there any. Because the other thing that was confusing me, I was like, is there any indication because she becomes immediately good at this job? Yeah, she's like, immediately like a good interviewer and, like, good at this. I'm like, is there any indication that she would be good at being like a team TV presenter or a news person in the book? Because this comes out of nowhere and she's just like. She becomes a what? Whatever that famous reporter is. I can't remember her name. Sawyer.
1:08:07
Speaker B: Diane Sawyer. Diane Sawyer. Yeah.
1:08:09
Speaker A: I want to keep on saying Diane Lane. I'm like, that's an actress. Diane Sawyer.
1:08:12
Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, so the, the gaffe with her coming down the fireman pole, like too early is from the book. There's not a camera right at the base of. Of it. So there's no like upskirt show on live tv. And I agree that there's no logical reason for the camera to have been there.
1:08:30
Speaker A: So you could put a camera there for a shot for like B roll, but it's during the live broadcast, which makes no sense. And also it does. She slides ask for. It's just so weird. It's clearly this Was the other thing kind of like the egg.
1:08:44
Speaker B: Yeah.
1:08:44
Speaker A: Jerk off thing? I'm like, what are we doing here?
1:08:47
Speaker B: So the. And I think in the book, the show she works for is called Good Afternoon Britain.
1:08:52
Speaker A: It's a much better name.
1:08:53
Speaker B: And I' pretty sure kind of like. Like you alluded to. I think it's supposed to be similar to, like, a Good Morning America type deal, like some reporting, but also there's like, a lot of fluffy entertainment, lifestyle stuff, that kind of thing. She does end up being an on air personality, although I wouldn't say there's any indication in the book that that's something she would be good at. However, considering that the movie goes out of its way to tell us that she's bad at public speaking, I think the book may have handled that better by just having kind of good at it out of nowhere.
1:09:28
Speaker A: Yeah, I. I was just like, why is she good at this?
1:09:30
Speaker B: This is because in the book you can kind of hand wave it away, like, oh, maybe this is just a hidden talent she didn't know she had.
1:09:37
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:09:37
Speaker B: But the movie, like, goes out of its way to show that she's bad at public school.
1:09:42
Speaker A: She's just, like, awkward with people. Like, that's. Her whole character is like, she's not necessarily good at talking to people and she's awkward and she puts her foot in her mouth and this. But then she's just. Just like a great reporter. Out of nowhere. I was like, all right, sure, whatever. It's very strange, but all right.
1:09:58
Speaker B: And the last thing here is my addition to this segment. And I'm putting this here because I kind of just want to discuss it without committing to either better in the book or better in the movie. So let's talk about the body shaming of it all. In the prequel, we talked about how all either of us knew about this movie was that it was infamous for body shaming.
1:10:20
Speaker A: Yes. And specifically, like, oh, everybody always jokes about, like, this. Like, they show a picture of Renee Zellweger and like, this is what the 2000s said was fat or whatever.
1:10:29
Speaker B: Which is true.
1:10:30
Speaker A: True.
1:10:31
Speaker B: That was a wild time for body image. I think, though, the movie actually has less of that element than the book does, just by virtue of not being completely within Bridget's inner monologue at all times. Times.
1:10:47
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:10:48
Speaker B: And you had had a note in our odds and ends section that I moved up to here. I don't know if you want to read it.
1:10:54
Speaker A: Yeah, well, I was just kind of surprised that at the end, I was. I kind of thought when the movie finished that. For all the issues with the body shaming, which, as you mentioned, wasn't actually as bad as I expected.
1:11:05
Speaker B: No, it's not nearly as bad as I expected.
1:11:07
Speaker A: Like, I expected a lot more of it. Like, it's there, but it's not nearly as. I don't know, I expected it to be way worse than it was. But for all the issues the movie has with that, like, the end of the movie, she doesn't end up losing any weight. That plot line goes out the window and is irrelevant by, like, the. Halfway through the movie, like, she talks about losing weight, but, like. And we see her, like, work out a few times and stuff, but it never be. It doesn't. At the end of the book, she isn't like, and I lost 20 pounds.
1:11:32
Speaker B: Like, yeah.
1:11:33
Speaker A: She seemingly, I think, loses no weight, essentially, and then. And still ends up getting the guy and having the happy ending. And I was like, so it's actually like, you know, despite some of the issues with some of the jokes and stuff and some of the earlier parts of the movie, the message isn't really a body shaming message in the movie.
1:11:49
Speaker B: Yeah.
1:11:49
Speaker A: At least in my opinion. It didn't read that way to me. It. It read more like, actually, you. You're fine as you are. Because that's the whole thing with him. He's like, I love you the way you are. Blah, blah, blah. Like, the. The movie is saying, like, you actually don't have to change all these things about yourself.
1:12:03
Speaker B: Yeah. And I. I do think that in both the book and the movie, that is ultimately the point.
1:12:08
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:12:09
Speaker B: I don't think that Helen Fielding set out to body shame. I think she set out to make a point about how society conditions women to fixate on their weight and their body size and elevate it to this impossible goal, a la if. Oh, if only I could lose five to ten pounds, my life would be perfect. All of my problems would disappear. If only I could achieve this.
1:12:31
Speaker A: This.
1:12:31
Speaker B: This goal weight that I have. Case in point, Bridget does, at one point in the book actually achieve her goal weight. And everybody immediately starts asking if she's okay, saying that she looks, like, tired and sick.
1:12:44
Speaker A: Interesting. Yeah. That's not in the movie.
1:12:46
Speaker B: No.
1:12:46
Speaker A: Yeah, because like I said, there's a couple mentions of her weight, and she does lose a little weight, but I think she goes from, like, 138 to, like, 130. And I think that's the lowest we ever hear her. And then they just stop talking about it.
1:12:56
Speaker B: Well, and like, I mentioned she. She records her. Her weight and almost every single.
1:13:00
Speaker A: Right. And you actually get all those.
1:13:01
Speaker B: Yes, and we actually get all those entries in the book. And her weight fluctuates.
1:13:06
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:13:06
Speaker B: I would say she never really loses weight.
1:13:08
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:13:09
Speaker B: But her weight fluctuates by an amount that I would say is probably largely just water weight.
1:13:14
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:13:15
Speaker B: Like normal five. Yeah. Like, normal weight fluctuations day to day. I was very frustrated reading the book because I was like, does she not know about water weight? Like, does she not understand that it's normal for so many people? Don't it's normal for your weight to fluctuate by, like, a few pounds day to day?
1:13:31
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:13:31
Speaker B: My point being, I do think that ultimately the point that Fielding was trying to make with the book and the point that the movie was trying to make was that this doesn't matter.
1:13:44
Speaker A: Right. Yeah.
1:13:45
Speaker B: However, I do think that Fielding's approach was imperfect. I think the commentary that she was doing is very kind of subtle and folded in in such a way that if you aren't already kind of aware of that quote unquote discourse, what you end up with is just a woman who's constantly bashing herself for not being able to achieve a mythical, ever moving beauty style standard. Like, I would. I was aware of what Fielding was trying to do, and I still found the way that Bridget talked about her body to be, like, legitimately triggering.
1:14:27
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:14:27
Speaker B: Like, not just the daily weight recording, but, like, the way that she talked about her thighs.
1:14:34
Speaker A: Right.
1:14:34
Speaker B: The way that she talked about, like, all. She was, like, all of this disgusting fat in my body. I can feel it under my skin and it's disgusting and da, da, da, da. And I, like, I was reading it and I was like, oh, my God.
1:14:47
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:14:48
Speaker B: Like, this is. This is not a book that I would recommend to anyone who's had, like, oh, dealing, like, dealing with a lot of struggles with, like, eating disorders or, like, body dysmorphia. Like, if that's. You do not read this book.
1:15:02
Speaker A: Yeah. Even though the point isn't to glorify that.
1:15:05
Speaker B: The point is not to glorify it, but. But just reading it, just reading it, I. I don't know, man. I. I found it to be, like, very legitimately upsetting. Even though body shaming was not the ultimate point that she was trying to make, but on the other hand of that, it all kind of basically boils down to, look how silly this woman is being. She's so worried about her weight, but she isn't even fat. And that's not it. That ain't it?
1:15:40
Speaker A: All right, that's going to do it for Lost, an adaptation. Let's go ahead and see what Katie had to. Let's go ahead and see what Katie thought was better in the book. You like to read?
1:15:53
Speaker B: Oh, yes, I love to read.
1:15:55
Speaker A: What do you like to read?
1:15:59
Speaker B: Everything. I don't have a lot of, like, singular little things, things that I want to talk about in the book, but I do have some kind of overarching thoughts. There's a lot more, like, back and forth between her and Daniel at the beginning of their relationship in the book. He like, last minute bails on her for their first date and then when they actually do go out, he tries to hook up with her and she tells him no and leaves. I. I just thought there was a little more interest at the beginning of their relationship and book. Bridget stands on her own two feet with him a bit more than it felt like she did in the movie. The other thing that I wanted to talk about was Bridget's friends because they are in much more of the book than they are in the movie. And I totally get cutting down those characters to fit everything into an hour and 40 minute runtime. But I think that her relationship with her friends are really important, especially as they relate to the book's discussion of, like, being single. One anxiety that is regularly discussed in the book is that, like, they could die alone in their apartments and not be found for weeks. And that's mentioned in the movie.
1:17:16
Speaker A: I don't remember it, but yeah.
1:17:18
Speaker B: But then at one point in the book, nobody can find or get a hold of Tom. And that anxiety kind of like manifests for all of them in real time. Time. So finally Bridget finds a spare key to his apartment and they all go over there and check on him. And it turned out that he had just gotten a nose job and was embarrassed to be seen. But it ends up being kind of a nice moment where they're all like, reassured that they aren't actually alone because they have each other.
1:17:46
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:17:47
Speaker B: And I felt like the movie lacked kind of some of that element.
1:17:50
Speaker A: It definitely. That's a very. Yeah, that would have been a nice little aside that I think could have added some additional, I don't know, not context, but an additional layer to the film because it is a very traditional rom com in the sense that it ends with the main character finding the love of her life and kissing him in the snow. And I think there is an element that would have been nice to see of being like, but yeah, just because you don't Have a romantic sexual relationship, whatever, with a single person doesn't mean you don't have people that care about you and love you and that like. And it's there in the movie. But I think putting a finer point on it with a scene like that would have been nice.
1:18:33
Speaker B: My last thing here, we talked about the ending of the movie. I did ultimately like the ending of the movie. But by the time we got to the fake out with him reading, leaving after reading her diary, I was so fatigued by the trope that I just got really, really annoyed.
1:18:50
Speaker A: Yeah, that I agree that that was. And I think that goes back to why the ending I imagine in my head I like a little bit more is because the motivation of him leaving to go get a ring to propose to her on the spot because he was so moved by something she said about him would make me less annoyed with him. Just like walking out of the apartment.
1:19:17
Speaker B: But it's a weird thing to do.
1:19:19
Speaker A: It's a very weird thing to do do. Him going to buy her a new diary felt less like, less of a reasonable explanation for him just like, yeah, without a word, like storming out of her apartment and walking away.
1:19:35
Speaker B: He's a single minded fellow, sure.
1:19:37
Speaker A: And that's fine. But like again, if I'm like, oh. He's like, he, he reads some beautiful things she wrote about him and realizes that he desperately loves her and needs to spend the rest of his life with her, he's not thinking straight in this moment. A little, you know, he's like, blah. Like that I could buy. But it's like, oh, I just wanted to go get you this diary. It's like, all right. Well, she was, you heard her yelling at you from the window and you just kept whatever. Yeah, yeah, I, I, I agree though. I thought it was like again, it worked mostly, but it's like, all right. Yeah, that's it for better in the book. Let's see what Katie thought was better in the movie. My life has taught me one lesson, Hugo, and not the one I thought it would. Happy endings only happen in the movies.
1:20:20
Speaker B: The book starts out with Bridget's list of New Year's resolutions, which I did like. But I also liked that the movie had her resolutions be motivated by that initial encounter with Mark. I thought that was a good way to work that in. I liked the gaffe with the dead author while she's trying to bluff about her phone call at work. Yeah, she's like making, she's on the phone talking to some author and then Daniel's like, oh, this. Blah, blah, blah, Author. Da da, da, da, da, Author. And she's like, yeah, that one, that one. And he's like the one who died in 1979 or whatever.
1:20:58
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:20:59
Speaker B: I also thought that the publishing party was fun. I don't know if I've ever seen a book that looked worse than Kafka's motorcycle.
1:21:07
Speaker A: Yes.
1:21:08
Speaker B: But I thought that whole scene was a lot of fun. The, the little vacation that her and Daniel take. I. I liked that the movie had that start out as fun before he kind of like pulls the rug out from under her and then leaves. Because in the book they're just like miserable the whole time. It's like raining and cold and there's nothing to do and they're just like sitting around and kind of sniping at each other.
1:21:35
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:21:36
Speaker B: I also like that Mark and Natasha are at the same place. I liked the added detail. I'm pretty sure this didn't happen in the book. That her dad also didn't know that the Tarts and Vickers party theme got changed. He's dressed as a priest.
1:21:54
Speaker A: And then they also added in the movie, which I wasn't a huge fan of a clear. Like you didn't need to do. They added a, like a. They put a hat on a hat with that, where they have like a little cut in. And I think this had to be like an added joke after the fact, like a reshoot. It felt like because we just see a woman, like an older woman in like a prostitute get up, like running. And we just hear a voiceover of Bridget going, oh, look, aunt whatever. Didn't get the memo either. But like, we don't see. It's just that one.
1:22:23
Speaker B: Well, and I like, I also think it's more impactful if she's like the only one dressed in like a slutty costume.
1:22:30
Speaker A: Well, and yeah, yeah. And it's just like, oh, we just. And it felt like we just put that in there because we felt like we. It would be funny to see an older woman in like a prostitute costume. And it felt weird. Like, why is that? There doesn't need to be there. Because the best joke in that whole scene, in that whole thing is when she finds her dad and they're like sitting in the different part of the garden and her dad's like, we weren't the only one. But luckily I didn't spend as much on my get up as cousin whatever over there. And it just cuts to this younger guy with glasses wearing like a full Pope costume.
1:23:04
Speaker B: Costume.
1:23:04
Speaker A: Yeah, it's the best joke in like, the whole movie almost. It's great.
1:23:11
Speaker B: After Bridget finds out that Daniel's cheating on her and resolves to turn her life around, she has a line that was not in the book that I really liked, where she says, I will not be defeated by a bad man and an American stick insect.
1:23:27
Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
1:23:30
Speaker B: I also like that Bridget goes out and gets a new job on her own because in the book her mom gets the initial interview for her. So I like that the movie gave her agency with that. I also liked that she gets to stick it to Daniel in front of everyone in the office instead of it just being the two of them. And then Perpetua, when she comes. Comes in. But I. I like that everybody got to. To marvel at Bridget Jones's.
1:24:00
Speaker A: The reactions in the background are hilarious. Like, the. The extras that. They were like, all right, now you gotta react when she does this insult. And they all do insane hand like moments of like, I don't know, like, how do we visualize? Like, that's the kind of part I.
1:24:16
Speaker B: Would like, man, just stand in the background of this scene and react like you're getting the hottest goss. You're witnessing the hottest tea you' in your life.
1:24:27
Speaker A: Except they all have to dial it up to like, 11, I guess, to read on camera. So if you actually focus on any individual person, you're like, no human would act like that in this moment. But it still works as like, kind of. Yeah.
1:24:41
Speaker B: Yeah. I thought having Daniel show up to her birthday dinner drunk was interesting. And I also had a note about the. The shot that you mentioned earlier where all of her friends are sitting there and they all have a cigarette.
1:24:53
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:24:53
Speaker B: In their hand. And then after the fight between Daniel and Mark, Mark leaves. And Daniel is like, trying to convince Bridget to get back with him. And the line that ultimately makes her kick him to the curb, he says, like, if I can't make it with you, I can't make it with anyone.
1:25:14
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:25:14
Speaker B: And I thought that was a pretty good sum up of why he keeps pursuing her. Her. He doesn't want her, but he wants her as an option.
1:25:22
Speaker A: Right.
1:25:23
Speaker B: Just in case.
1:25:24
Speaker A: And also I also feel like it's because he's such a smooth operator that the only time he fumbles is when he just got his ass kicked. Like he's not really thinking clearly. It's like when he puts his foot in his mouth because the rest of the time he's a very smooth operator.
1:25:39
Speaker B: And then a couple overarching things in this section too. One is that Mark and Daniel are in much more of the entire story. Story in the movie than they are in the book. I was kind of chuckling earlier when you were talking about Mark not really being in the beginning because he's in so much more of the movie than he is of the book.
1:26:01
Speaker A: Fair enough.
1:26:02
Speaker B: In the book, she meets mark on page 12 and he does not reappear until page 87.
1:26:07
Speaker A: It's only like a 200 page book.
1:26:09
Speaker B: Yeah. I was like. I was reading this book and I was like, when is he coming back? Are we ever gonna see him again?
1:26:15
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:26:16
Speaker B: And then Daniel more or less vanishes from the book after they break up and she gets a new job. And I thought it made a lot of sense to one to have them interact more and also to kind of like weave both of those plot lines throughout the entire thing. My second thing here overarching thing is that the movie, in my opinion at least, that I noticed and caught, had more direct allusions to Pride and Prejudice than the book did. There was her overhearing Mark insulting her right after she meets him. Classic Mr. Darcy. Daniel lying about what caused the rift between him and Mark, which we talked about. And then we talked about the scene where he tells her that he likes her, which was kind of a combination of like Darcy's terrible first proposal. And then also the letter that he writes to her later on that makes her start changing her mind about. About him.
1:27:13
Speaker A: Yeah. All right, let's go ahead and hit a few things that the movie nailed.
1:27:22
Speaker B: As I expected, practically perfect in every way. A couple little things here that we haven't talked about. They do have a turkey curry buffet for New Year's.
1:27:34
Speaker A: It's a very British thing.
1:27:35
Speaker B: Yeah, that does feel very, very British. You mentioned earlier that her mom has some outdated opinions about things. One of is when she's talking about Mark's ex wife and she says she was Japanese, very cruel race. I was like, oh, okay.
1:27:55
Speaker A: Which the movie also knows is bad. Cause Bridget makes a joke about it later, referencing that line about it being a cruel race. And you can tell that it's tongue in cheek.
1:28:09
Speaker B: But yeah, yeah. Bridget being annoyed by the repeated question of so how's your love life? Is something that comes up throughout the book. There's an exchange at some party, I don't remember where they bring up Daniel because Bridget's dating Daniel. Is it at the Tarts and Vickers party? Yeah, I think so. And then somebody that whoever they're talking to says, like, oh, is he a friend of yours? Mark? And he Refers.
1:28:43
Speaker A: I think it's because they're standing at the Tarts and Vigors party and somebody's like, oh, where's Daniel? And then they go, oh, is he a friend?
1:28:50
Speaker B: And yeah. And he says, absolutely not. And then the lady that they're talking to is like, oh, well, I hope he's good enough for our Bridget. And Mark replies, I can say with certainty, absolutely not.
1:29:01
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:29:04
Speaker B: After Bridget finds out that Daniel's cheating on her, he announces that they're getting engaged. Like immediately.
1:29:11
Speaker A: That was all weird.
1:29:12
Speaker B: Tells her that they're getting in.
1:29:13
Speaker A: What was going on? There's like, were they. Had they been together? I guess was the idea.
1:29:16
Speaker B: Yeah, I think that is the idea.
1:29:17
Speaker A: Okay.
1:29:19
Speaker B: She does refer to her couple friends as the Smug Marrieds. Also, at one point, Natasha does comment on how she's not wearing her bunny costume anymore. And Bridget replies, we bunnies only wear our tails on special occasions. Bridget does miss her chance to get a hard hitting interview after a big court case. And then Mark helps her.
1:29:46
Speaker A: Freedom fighter.
1:29:48
Speaker B: No, it's. It's something else in the book. I can't remember what. Yeah. But Mark does help her by getting her an exclusive interview. Bridget tries to cook dinner and it's a disaster. She makes blue soup.
1:30:01
Speaker A: Yep.
1:30:02
Speaker B: And then Mark helps her make an omelet. Omelette. And the last thing here, the specific exchange when she's at the Ruby wedding anniversary party and she goes up to Mark and she's like, thank you for inviting me. And he goes, I didn't.
1:30:18
Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Good. All right. We got a handful of odds and ends before we get to the final verdict. When this movie started, the opening credits play and the Working Title films credit rolled and I was like, oh, this is Working Title. And I feel like, I don't know if anybody else feels like this, but I feel like Working title was a 24 before a 24 was a 24. I have this memory of like a lot of movies I liked from like the early mid 2000s that are kind of like less popular but, but like kind of niche. I don't know the kind of movies I was into at the time. A lot of them were Working title films. And I don't know anything about the production company or what it is. It might even be a British thing actually, because I think all of the Cornetto trilogy are Working title films. I think, I'm pretty sure. So maybe it's like a British thing. I actually don't know what Working Title is, but it's one of those things that just Made me laugh because I'm like, I felt like it was kind of that thing where I identified movies that were like working title productions. I was like, kind of how I feel about a 24 now? Or like, usually most a 24 films I go see, I'm gonna like generally speaking.
1:31:35
Speaker B: Yeah.
1:31:35
Speaker A: Because they tend to produce movies that are kind of in my wheelhouse and that has become a whole meme. Obviously people talk about like a 24 movies, which. Yeah, it's not really a thing because it's a really wide ranging, like, types of movies. But yeah, they make good movies generally.
1:31:52
Speaker B: Anyways, if people talked about the characters from this property, and maybe they do in Britain, I don't know, the way that they do about Sex in the City, I would be a Shaza.
1:32:05
Speaker A: I think they do. I've heard people talk about Shazza before. Yeah, I've heard her referenced and stuff. And she's like, barely in this movie.
1:32:11
Speaker B: No, she's. Well, she's in the book way more. She. In the book, she's the friend whose relationship advice has always been dump him.
1:32:18
Speaker A: Ah, there you go.
1:32:19
Speaker B: And that's me.
1:32:20
Speaker A: Yeah, that is you. I mentioned in the prequel, but apparently that character of Shazza is based on the director of the film. Like, in real life, if you didn't listen to the prequel. The author of the book, Helen Fielding, was friends with, and I can't remember her name now, the woman who directed this movie, they were friends prior to this film being directed. And Shazza in the book is based on the woman who directed this movie, which I thought was interesting. She should have played herself. I don't. I don't know why. She's probably, maybe too old, I guess, for the role at the time. I don't know.
1:32:52
Speaker B: She gives good advice.
1:32:54
Speaker A: Yeah. I will say there was a part, I think it was in the scene where, because you were talking about earlier, like, oh, I like how they at least had a good time before things went miserable on the trip. And I think it was when they were in the boat and he falls in the water and stuff. I was like, you know, apart from the obvious sexual harassment and the power imbalance and the issues with all of that, Hugh Grant actually seems kind of like a reasonably nice himbo in this. Like, he seems like maybe like, he's like, yeah, he's a womanizer and like a playboy or whatever, but, like, he doesn't seem like an asshole. I was like, oh, wait, no, he sucks. Never mind. Yeah, and like, that's the whole thing is like, he. Yeah, It's. It's all an act, but it's a very good act. It was a believable act. Like, I thought he was maybe was just. Yeah, no, no, no. It's unfortunate.
1:33:42
Speaker B: The blue soup looked like the blue milk from Star Wars.
1:33:45
Speaker A: It absolutely did. Yes. It absolutely.
1:33:47
Speaker B: That was all I could think of. Scenes. This stupid blue milk.
1:33:50
Speaker A: Yes, that's. Absolutely. I was. I like, why are they eating that?
1:33:54
Speaker B: Yeah, right.
1:33:55
Speaker A: That has, like, weird. Weird, like, industrial dye from rope. Like, what are you doing? Like, it's just. Yeah, that. That cannot be safe to eat, I wouldn't think, but sure, whatever. My last note here, before we wrap up, I wanted to see. I was interested if our audience recognized Natasha.
1:34:12
Speaker B: I did not.
1:34:13
Speaker A: Yeah.
1:34:14
Speaker B: You thought. You were like, oh, she looks familiar. And I was like, yeah.
1:34:16
Speaker A: I was like, the actress who plays Natasha looks familiar. I was like, what do I know her from? Because. Driving me crazy. And then I looked it up and saw what it was. I don't know if I realized before I looked it up. I can't remember. I don't think I did. I think I had to look it up. And then I was like, oh, my God, it's her. But if you didn't realize who it was. The actress who plays Natasha in this has been in another movie that we've done. She's Miss Honey and Matilda Wild could not be kind of more polar opposite roles, which I thought was fascinating. And then I had another moment where my brain freaked out and I realized where else I recognized her from. And then I was like. It all clicked into place. I was like, oh, my God. And I think this is actually where I recognized her from because she looks the same in this as she does in this movie. She's in one episode of Scrubs, and I had no IDEA that was Ms. Honey, but there's an episode of Scrubs called My. My Tormented Mentor, I think. And it's one of the ones where. I think it's the scene where after Dr. Cox loses all the patience to rabies or whatever the hell, the how to Save a Life episode. Spoilers for Scrubs, by the way. It's a great episode. Highly recommend it. Don't know if I would recommend the whole show. A lot of it hasn't aged great, but. Or I would recommend it, but just go in knowing that it is not all aged great, but. But during that. This episode, after that dramatic episode, Jordan has two of her friends come to Visit. Jordan is Dr. Cox's wife. Two of her friends come to visit who are like, These evil bitches who are Jordan's friends and they try to sleep with J.D. and that actress, Mrs. Honey, is one of her two friends. And that's what I recognized her from because her hair is dark and short in the episode of Scrubs like it is in the movie. And it's so funny because this is only like five years after Matilda, but.
1:36:13
Speaker B: She looks completely different. Like I said, I didn't even recognize her.
1:36:19
Speaker A: The short dark hair just completely changes everything about her. Well, and she's playing completely in character and she's like a cold, like, you know, person in this. And Ms. Honey is like the warmest, nicest person ever. It's like the whole character. I just thought it was fascinating. Anyways, before we get to the final verdict, we want to remind. You can do us a favor by hanging over to Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Goodreads, Blue sky, any of those places interact. We'd love to hear what you have to say about Bridget Jones's diary. You can also drop us a five star rating, write us a nice little review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, any of those places. We'd really appreciate that. And you can support us by heading over to patreon.com this filmislit. Give us 2, 5 or 15 bucks a month. Get access to bonus content starting at the $5 level. We just recorded our episode on the favorite from 2018 that'll be out probably tomorrow. Not tomorrow, but within the next two or three days. As you're listening to this, I just got to get that edited. And you get a bonus episode every month at the $5 level. And at the $15 a month level, you get access to priority patron recommendations. Or if there's something you'd really like for us to talk about, talk about, you can request that and we will do it as soon as we possibly can. And this, in fact, was a patron request request from.
1:37:28
Speaker B: From Mathilde.
1:37:30
Speaker A: Thank you, Mathilde. We appreciate the request. Katie, it's time for the final verdict.
1:37:35
Speaker B: No, sentence passed. Verdict after. That's stupid. Bridget Jones is supposed to be a relatable everywoman, but I'm not gonna lie, I struggled to relate. I'm not sure if it was because I'm less of a Bridget and more of a shirt Shazza, or because the story's now going on 40 years old. Or maybe it was just the overall Britishness and I'm missing some kind of cultural thing, but I truly just could not relate to the title character or much of anything going on around her. Case in point, on Valentine's Day. The characters in the book, all adults, walk around asking each other how many Valentine cards they've received and judging each other about it. Is that a British thing? A late 90s thing? I don't know. So much of the behavior of the grown ass adults in the book felt incredibly far fetched to me. To the point that at one point I put the book down and said to you, I refuse to believe that there are people who behave like this.
1:38:49
Speaker A: Don't disagree.
1:38:50
Speaker B: I had some of the same issues with the movie. It's also a little dated and I struggled to relate to Bridget. However, I think that the movie made a couple of good choices, namely including both Mark and Daniel in the story overall, using more fun allusions to Pride and Prejudice and adjusting the ending to feel more like a traditional rom com Happily ever After. Neither property is perfect, but in my opinion the movie was a little better paced, had a tighter plot and more fun feel. Good rom com schmaltz. And for those reasons, I'm going to give this one to the movie.
1:39:31
Speaker A: All right, my two cents. I thought it was a good movie. I enjoyed it. Not like a great movie by any stretch, but I thought it was fun. I enjoyed it as a rom com. Enjoyable little film. Katie what's next?
1:39:42
Speaker B: Up next, we are covering the last film that they made in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Chronicles of Narnia the Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. lewis 2010 film yeah, this is fascinating.
1:40:01
Speaker A: To me because I know you've told me several times that we did Prince Caspian. That memory. Those memories do not exist in my mind.
1:40:08
Speaker B: Does that memory hold that one?
1:40:10
Speaker A: I remember talking about the first one. I literally do not believe you that we covered Prince Caspian. I legitimately am like, is she trying to gaslight me? I know I can just google it now and go find the episode and see that it's there and listen to myself talk about it. But holy cow, of all the episodes we've done, that might be the one I remember the least. I don't know why.
1:40:32
Speaker B: It was kind of a forgettable movie. No offense to Ben Barnes.
1:40:38
Speaker A: I love Ben Barnes. Ben Barnes is great.
1:40:39
Speaker B: But yeah, one of the bigger crushes that I had in the early 2010s.
1:40:44
Speaker A: Understandable. He's a very handsome man. He can also sing, which is stupid. He shouldn't be allowed to also be able to sing while being that handsome and good at actor. So anyways, yes, finishing off the Chronicles of Narnia movies. Yeah, just in time for them to make a TV show at some point, maybe eventually. Yeah, no, that'll be interesting. I. Yeah, I. I forgot there was another one to do, so I kind.
1:41:06
Speaker B: Of forget that they made a movie out of this one. Also, I've never actually seen it, which might be a crime because that's actually my favorite Narnia book, so.
1:41:15
Speaker A: All right, well, that'll be that in two weeks time. But in one week's time, we're previewing the Chronicles of Narnia, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and seeing what you all had to say about Bridget Jones's diary. Until that time. Guys, gals, non binary pals. Everybody else, keep reading books, keep watching.
1:41:30
Speaker B: Movies, and keep being awesome.