The reason this style works is that there's nothing black, or even particularly dark, in the photo. So no, your guy has dressed badly for this situation.
I promise, your file is perfect. Smooth as silk.
Can you try something for me quickly? Go to Edit>Assign Profile, and assign your monitor profile to the image. Does that make it look worse, better, or no change?
There must be a black-and-white layer in the group that's desaturating everything underneath it.
Just add a mask to the group and make sure it's only being applied to its half of the file.
No, sorry. I'm not aware Bridge has ever had that feature. It's the domain of the camera manufacturer's own software - eg NX for Nikon, DPP for Canon, etc.