REVIEW: The CircleBy Quinn OxleyApril 28, 2017I love Tom Hanks. (Maybe it’s a Tom thing.) I grew up with Toy Story and I came of cinematic-appreciation-age with Catch Me If You Can, Saving Private Ryan, Captain Phillips and Saving Mr. Banks. There’s little he can do wrong in my mind. And, as usual, he’s great. But, as Jeremy from CinemaSins would say, “Oh no… they dragged poor Tom Hanks into this, didn’t they?â€
You know how your cat or dog or young sibling sees that you’re in the bathroom and they call your name from just outside the door because they want to be in there with you? That’s The Circle. Okay, it’s more of a commentary on the ever-dwindling privacy of the digital age, but they do make bathroom jokes.
Mae Holland (Emma Watson) is able to quit her miserable job after being secured an interview at the Circle by her friend Annie. Despite her friend Mercer’s (Ellar Coltrane) reservations about the company, Mae sees how much the Circle can do to improve the lives of those she loves. She works hard and makes herself useful to the company’s frontman, Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), all the while delving further into the cultish depths of the company’s philosophies and practices.
I did not like this film. And it’s not very good. There is a difference.
The film’s script is dreadful. There were four scenes that I could count which were so poorly written and executed that I was near physical discomfort; The Circle plays out as if it expects you to care for characters, relationships, and circumstances that the film itself invests nothing in. Crucial emotional payoffs hinge on these underdeveloped elements. Thus, you get uncomfortable laughter instead of concern.
The performances don’t help, though. Emma Watson is passable, despite her uneasy American accent. Tom Hanks, of course, is a gem. Karen Gillan is wonderful as well, but maybe I’m biased because I’m a Whovian, myself. Ellar Coltrane, though, is such an anticlimax. (Almost as much as the film’s own anticlimax.) John Boyega has… maybe four minutes of screen time.
The film’s underpinning concepts, admittedly, warrant further investigation by more competent writers. The Circle is, at the very least, thought-provoking. I’d venture to guess it could be interpreted as a metaphor for big government, but with such a clunky medium, I can’t tell for sure.
The ending, no spoilers, left me so confused. It explains so little and feels like a muddled final attempt at an interesting moral.
Is it good, though?
No. It’s not good. Not a fan. 0/10, would not see again.
Actual rating: 3/10
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