Hugh Grant’s Rom-Com Return Is a Shocking Change After Its 93% Success on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5-Film Trend

While the trailer for Bridget Jones: crazy about the boy looks promising, it’s still strange to see series villain Hugh Grant return to romantic comedy territory after a string of darker roles. Early in his career, Hugh Grant avoided darker themes. His only early horror role, 1988 The lair of the white wormit was a campy, silly supernatural horror comedy that leaned toward the latter rather than the former. His biggest hits throughout the ’90s came in the form of period romantic dramas like Sense and Sensibility and romantic comedies. Grant has starred in many classic romantic comedies.

Before Hugh Grant’s villainous performances became his forte late in his career, the actor starred in Four weddings and a funeral, Nine Months, Notting Hill, True love, Two weeks noticeand About a Boy. Although he also played a major role in the hit 2001 romantic comedy Bridget Jones Diarythis was something of an anomaly in the star canon. As the deceptive Daniel Cleaver, Grant played against type and subverted the petulant personality he had developed in previous romantic comedies. HereticReed proves that Grant took this subversive much further in the decades that followed, gradually becoming an iconic screen villain.

It’s very strange to see Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones 4, after roles as a heretic and other villains

Hugh Grant’s Bridget Jones 4 Return Doesn’t Fit His New On-Screen Persona

Now, Bridget Jones: crazy about the boy sees Hugh Grant return to the role of Daniel Cleaver in a belated sequel for 2016 Bridget Jones’s Baby. Although Cleaver didn’t appear in that sequel, he played a role in 2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Cleaver is a major antagonist in the series, but it’s still strange to see Grant reprise the role after a string of more serious, high-profile villain roles in recent years. Grant’s transition into villainous roles began with a project that, ironically, was even lighter than Bridget Jones Diary2017 Paddington2.

After playing the suave Phoenix Buchanan in that hit family film, Grant played a hateful amoral private eye in the 2019 crime comedy. The gentlemen. This successful collaboration with Guy Ritchie was followed by 2023 Operation Fortuna: Ruse de Guerrein which Grant played another villainous role, and in the same year Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieveswhere the star played a supporting villain. However, Grant cemented his status as a major movie villain in the 2024 religious horror film Hereticwhich quickly became one of the most acclaimed performances of his career. Grant played a seemingly sweet theologian.

Hugh Grant gradually became known for more sinister film characters

The ’90s Rom-Com Star Made a Conscious Shift From Heroic Roles

HereticGrant’s twisting story sees Grant’s charismatic religious aficionado gradually reveal himself to be a monster, and the psychological thriller benefits from Grant’s existing image as a sweet, clumsy everyman. The Dark by Hugh Grant Heretic The role earned him praise, but it wasn’t his first successful villainous performance.and critics highlighted his performances in both Paddington2 and The gentlemen as high points in both films. It makes sense that Grant would now return as Daniel Cleaver, since, albeit indirectly, his role in Bridget Jones Diary helped shape his late-career villain roles.

After convincing as the despicable and doubtful Cleaver, Grant parlayed that success into a darker role in 2006. American Dream. This dark satire of the entertainment industry saw Grant play a broad parody of Simon Cowell, but the film’s poor performance meant it took a few years before Grant returned to darker stories. Long before Bridget Jones: crazy about the boyGrant appeared as a villain in the sprawling and ambitious 2012 sci-fi epic Cloud Atlasbut the film’s unique structure means he played multiple roles in the same story.

When Hugh Grant Last Appeared in a Romantic Comedy (Did He Stop?)

2014’s disappointing The Rewrite was Grant’s most recent Rom-Com

Meanwhile, discouraging reviews gradually drove Grant away from the world of romantic comedies. Romantic comedies were key to Grant’s early career successbut the actor’s later entries into the genre performed poorly. 2007 Music and Lyrics received mixed reviews, while 2009 Have you heard of the Morgans? was critically reviled. 2014 The rewrite was Grant’s last romantic comedy, but the Marisa Tomei vehicle failed to find an audience despite reuniting Grant with Two weeks notice writer/director Marc Lawrence. After The rewrite failed, Grant wisely began his move into villainous roles.

While Hugh Grant’s best romantic comedy roles include some classic entries in the genre, it’s fair to say that the actor’s transition to playing villains has been equally successful. Operation Fortuna: Ruse de Guerre underperformed at the box office, but Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves It was well received by critics and fans of the game. Your performance in The gentlemen was a high point in an uneven outing for Ritchie, and Heretic it was a total revelation for the familiar star. As such, it’s bizarre to see Hugh Grant back in rom-com mode for Bridget Jones: crazy about the boy.