Bridget Jones's Diary

Yesterday it was Valentine's Day, and with Valentine come the sappy romantic comedies on tv. Now in my opinion there are only very few good romantic comedies (Notting Hill, Love Actually, When Harry met Sally, You've got Mail), and yesterday one of the good ones was shown on television: Bridget Jones's Diary.
Now the novels is of course better than the film. Helen Fielding's wit and genius are so detailed and intricate that it could never translate well to the screen. There are so many asides and extra characters and extra small things in the novels that could never be crammed into a film, and I'm happy that the film makers did not even try, but just took a different approach.
You may not be aware of this (having never read Bridget Jones, or Austen, or just never had the inclination to think about it), but Bridget Jones is modelled on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. Fielding did this on purpose, and it is quite easy to see once you know it. The big giveaway is of course Mark Darcy, named after Mr. Darcy, and I won't tell you anymore because I know the enjoyment of going through the novel yourself and discovering these little hints and links.
Anyway, in the film, another sort of link was made. First of course, Mark Darcy is played by Colin Firth, the big Mr. Darcy actor from the 1995 BBC Pride & Prejudice series. But few may remember Hugh Grant, who is Daniel Cleaver in the movie, as Edward Ferrars in the Sense & Sensibility adaptation of the same year. This basically puts the two big love interests of the two big Jane Austen movies up against each other, and makes the whole movie a big nod to the Austen film culture springing up around the time. Moreover, Bridget's mum is of course played by the same actress that played Mrs. Dashwood in that same film.
In the sequel to the novel (The Edge of Reason, reportedly Fielding is working on the third novel right now, due to come out this autumn), Bridget actually interviews Colin Firth, as she loves watching him in his role of Mr. Darcy in that same BBC Pride & Prejudice adaptation. Now I thought that they'd have to keep this out of the film, as you can't have Bridget interviewing Colin when Colin was actually Mark Darcy. But sure enough, they kept the interview, albeit in the Deleted Scenes. This form of self-mockery, which started with the novels, translated to the film, came back through the sequel and it's film, is precisely what Austen might have enjoyed, given the ironic comments found in her novels.