Watch the first trailer for 'Bridget Jones's Baby' - Los Angeles Times
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Watch the first trailer for ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’

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The year was 2004. Google released its own email service named, creatively, Gmail, Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage and George W. Bush was elected for his second term as president.

In short, it was a long, long time ago.

How long ago?

Hugh Grant had just made “Love Actually,” Renée Zellweger had just won an Oscar for “Cold Mountain,” Colin Firth was still seven years away from winning his Oscar for “The King’s Speech” and though this won’t make sense until later, “Grey’s Anatomy” hadn’t even premiered yet.

That’s how long it’s been since a “Bridget Jones” film graced theaters. “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason” debuted Nov. 12, 2004, a disappointing sequel to 2001’s surprise hit “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” Where “Diary” made over $70 million domestically, “Edge of Reason” managed only $40 million, and the third film in the series, though greenlighted in 2011, never manifested.

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Until now.

That’s right. It’s 2016 and the universe is finally giving you the next “Bridget Jones” installment you didn’t know you (maybe) wanted. Wednesday saw the first trailer for “Bridget Jones’s Baby” released exclusively on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” which details the latest trevails of Bridget Jones, now 43, as she stumbles into single-motherhood, unsure of who the father of her unborn child is.

Afraid you don’t remember enough about the series to competently pick up where you left off? No problem! From all appearances of the trailer, it would appear that the series has no idea where it left off anyway.

When last we saw Jones (Renée Zellweger), she had finally kicked on-again, off-again beau Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) to the curb and, after a strange and wholly unnecessary side plot involving cocaine smuggling, had become engaged to off-again, on-again beau Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).

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According to the trailer, it’s unclear what’s taken place since then. Darcy and Jones are apparently on the outs again, though not so much that they’ve stopped sleeping together. Cleaver is evidently gone for good as Grant is nowhere to be seen in the film. And now Bridget has a new suitor, billionaire Jack Qwantz played by a very, very tan, former “Grey’s Anatomy” heartthrob, Patrick Dempsey.

The crux of the new plot is that silly Jones has no idea which of the two men in her life are her respective baby’s daddy and hilarious hijinx will inevitably ensue as she attempts to discover the truth about what’s in her uterus (and what’s in her heart.)

If nothing else, the trailer will remind you of the stellar supporting cast the film series has always boasted, including Jim Broadbent (“Moulin Rouge”) as Bridget’s father, Emma Thompson (“Sense and Sensibility”) as Bridget’s doctor and James Callis (“Battlestar Galactica”) as Bridget’s friend. Also, that Zellweger, despite her uneven career, has never been so good as when she’s embodying Bridget Jones.

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