BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY****

First the irritating stuff.  Why oh why must London-set dramadies always be set among the 1 percent? Because let's be clear, most newly widowed mothers don't go back to work for a rebrand. They go back to work because they are financially insecure.  Most of them don't live in lavish picture-perfect Hampstead houses and have two kids in private school.  Most can't afford a full-time nanny. And most can't just waltz back into the same job they had a decade prior.

Second irritating point.  Renee Zellwegger.  The whole awkward tampon up the arse walk. The gurning.  The ditziness that is impervious to ageing and wisdom. The fact that she seems to have an endless stream of handsome men declare their underlying love for her.

Okay so that's two pretty major problems with this film.  BUT I still enjoyed it!  Why? Because author and screenwriter Helen Fielding has something moving and hopeful to say about grieving a loved one and about emotional growth.  We see Bridget as a widow navigate grief with her two small children, have a passionate summer fling with a hot younger man (The White Lotus' Leo Woodall) and then form a more mature attachment with her son's teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor).  I believed in her grief, her joy, her contentment. Because Renee Zellwegger is actually a good actress when given something meaningful to do.  

And what of the emotional growth? Well that's all on the part of Hugh Grant's delicious rake Daniel, who comes to the realisation that he ought to forge a relationship with his teenage son. He has all the best lines and provides all of the film's comedy. Oh, except for a really superb cameo from Isla Fisher. Renee's prat falling does NOT count. (Shirley Henderson and the other best mates are all sadly underused.)

BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY has a running time of 124 minutes and is rated R. It is in cinemas in the UK and on Peacock in the USA.

TO LESLIE**

TO LESLIE is an underwritten hokey film about addiction and redemption that is almost insultingly simplistic about how easy it is to quit years of heavy drinking.  One can forgive its broad strokes as it's the debut feature of director Michael Morris and writer Ryan Binaco.  It has come to fame for the social media campaign run by feted actors to get its star, Andrea Riseborough, an Oscar nomination.  Her performance is committed and big - very big - in the films early scenes. Indeed it veers into that well-known Oscar-bait trope of getting fucked up and ugly for a nomination.  But Riseborough is a good actor, and while this isn't her best performance, I'm happy she's getting some overdue notice. But let's not get carried away about the merits of this film.

Riseborough stars in the titular role as a working class single mother who wins the lottery, blows the money, and ends up drunk and homeless.  In the film's opening scenes she reconnects with her now grown son (Owen Teague) and immediately betrays his trust by stealing money and getting high.  He kicks her out and she heads back to a home town full of people who either mock or detest her.  But she's held out a lifeline by Marc Maron and Andre Royo's motel bosses who give her a job as a maid. She cleans up and finds acceptance. The end.

There are better, more heartbreaking, and more complex depictions of addiction on screen, most notably by Andre Royo as Bubbles in TV's The Wire. Riseborough and Maron do the best they can with the script they're given.  Janney is too good for the kind of schmaltz we get in the final scene.  This is not a film of note. But it's great Riseborough is getting recognised.

TO LESLIE is rated R and has a running time of 119 minutes. It played by SXSW 2022 and was released last year in the USA.

HOUSE OF CARDS S5 E6 CHAPTER 58 - Plot summary and comments

PLOT SUMMARY: First Lady and Vice Presidential candidate Claire Underwood is sworn in as Acting President while the House continues to vote on whether  President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) or Republican Presidential candidate Governor Will Conway (Joel Kinnaman) should be President.  Claire hesitates over giving Frank security clearance. She frankly asks her campaign manager Leann Harvey (Neve Campbell) about Frank's chances in a revote in all 50 states vs in the House. She replies that a revote in just Tennessee and Ohio is his best shot but it wouldn't be what was best for Claire. Nonetheless, Claire proposes the two state vote but is clearly concerned.

An apparently Russian force has occupied a US base in Antartica.  The Russians deny the troops belong to them.  Secretary of State Catherine Durant lobbies Congress to pass sanctions on oligarchs stating that a vote for the measure is not a vote for the Underwoods who may not be around in a week.  The Russian President then reveals that he has custody of IT specialist Aidan McAllan (Damian Young).

We discover that Frank's new personal trainer is his creepy fanboy Eric. 

Meanwhile, Conway's campaign manager Mark Usher (Campbell Scott) is trying to woo the Congressional Black Caucus. If they can win their support, Conway will be President.  However, he comes across as arrogant and out of touch.  A frustrated Conway tries to bully the pilot of his private jet to allow him to fly the plane.  When he fails he loses his temper. Mark is able to talk him down. Mark then brokers a deal for a new Supreme Court justice and also agrees to the new two state election so long as its for both President and Veep. In other words, Claire needs to formally step down.  Frank is livid. 

Elsewhere, journalist Tom Hammerschmidt (Boris McGiver) continues to block the investigation of the woman who claims she can pin Rachel Posner's murder on Doug Stamper.  However, his sidekick follows up the lead and Hammerschmidt reopens his investigation.

The bored and frustrated speechwriter Tom Yates (Paul Sparks) has sex with a White House tour guide in the press briefing room.

The episode ends of Will Conway's wife looking at him clearly disturbed by playing the virtual reality first person shooter game and Frank on the floor stretching out his back. Claire bluntly tells Frank that he would have lost the House vote. He insults Claire as merely an Acting President. 

COMMENTS:  Another basically dull episode showing Claire in the ascendant. The only hope is that the writers really push the fragility of Conway for some dramatic excitement. Words cannot describe how bored I am by the Rachel murder investigation though.

HOUSE OF CARDS S5 E5 CHAPTER 57 - Plot summary and comments

PLOT SUMMARY: Nine weeks later, and President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) breaks the fourth wall to tell us that two states refused to certify and so there has been no result. The Supreme Court is down a member and in deadlock and government is crippled. As in the last season of Veep, the vote therefore transfers to the House per the twelfth amendment by simple majority.  Meanwhile protestors barrack the White House.  

Inside the White House Frank meets the strange man called Eric who is an actor, personal trainer and military history recruiter. He is clearly a mentally unstable and obsessed with Frank.  Vice Presidential candidate and First Lady Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) meets with Underwoods campaign manager Leann Harvey (Neve Campbell).  Leann tells Claire that Frank's approval rating is just 19pc whereas Claire's is 30pc; that there's resistance to a simultaneous vote for President and Vice President and that Claire should consider what happens in the event of a split ticket. This view is  later echoed by Republican supporters and Claire seems open to a split ticket. Even the current Vice President tries to flatter Claire into breaking away from Frank. 

Meanwhile, Leann has tracked IT specialist Aidan McAllan to Jakarta. He then phones her and asks her to join him. He also threatens to leak information on the Underwoods unless she calls off the FBI search. She confides in Chief of Staff Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) but he appears reluctant to act. 

Republican candidate Governor Will Conway (Joel Kinnaman) is playing a military first person shooter and is clearly emotionally disturbed by it.

A woman comes forward to journalist Tom Hammerschmidt (Boris McGiver) with a story about Chief of Staff Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) but he doubts her. Later, Doug hooks up with the woman who left him earlier for not being present.   Doug then tells Frank that he's having trouble threatening people into giving him the requisite 26 votes. Frank lashes out at a clearly shocked Doug but then apologises.

COMMENTS: "Meet your new daddy". Well this was a dull episode - again - which can be compressed into two things - Claire is now the popular force, and Aidan is a problem.  It feels to me like their is no menace in this season. The murders in prior seasons are distant lurking threats but one doesn't feel as if Frank could literally kill someone now.  Even Tom Hammerschmidt seems bored by those early plot lines.  There are no worthy antagonists - Conway is a psychological wreck - and no fascinating psychological dramas. Even Doug Stamper's sexual liaisons seem tame compared to previous seasons. Five episodes in, one wonders if this really is the impact of Beau Willamon leaving?