Rating: 
Summary: Visually and Emotionally Stunning
Review: A story of friendship and betrayal, set in Ireland of the 1950s. Catholic angst interweaves with the passion of youth, and the story sometimes takes your breath away. I crawled inside this film and smelled the air and felt the rolling emotions. Honestly portrayed and beautifully acted (well, in the case of the character Sean, perhaps over-acted) the story really conveys the essence of Ireland, for which Maeve Binchy is rightfully famous. Casting, accents, costumes and setting were beautifully believable. Happily, it has been sometime since I read the book, so that the movie didn't suffer in comparison (as they usually do if I've read the book first). Please don't stop with this adaptation!
Rating: 
Summary: I didn't read the book, but...
Review: ...I wish I had, when I read through the other reviews and saw how many readers had been disappointed that a favorite book had been altered beyond their recognition. This may explain why parts of "Circle of Friends" didn't work for me.Bennie (Minnie Driver) is a somewhat overweight, self-concious girl who goes off to University of Dublin in the company of two of her best friends. There, she encounters what we in the States would call a dreamboat, Jack (Chris O'Donnell). No way they could ever be anything but "just friends", right? Well, maybe not. Time to feel a little like two Joan Fontaine heroines, Jane Eyre and the Second Mrs. de Winter, when that good-looking guy may well be yours after all. While all this is taking place rather slowly, another of the friends, Nan, is in the fast lane with her rich Protestant boyfriend, played by Colin Firth. She's decided to act what she believes is sophisticated, with drastic results, ultimately tragically involving the other couple, Bennie and Jack. Evidently, one of the major characters from the book, Eve, got short shrift here in the movie. I for one couldn't understand why this apparently minor character popped up like a deus ex machina at the end, and was able to clear up the difficulty at hand. I guess that's because she's really supposed to have been on hand all through the story. I did manage to enjoy "Circle of Friends", as a non-reader of the original book, though I would have to agree with some others that it was entirely because Minnie Driver was so engaging in the lead female role. It was the first time I ever saw her, and she made quite an impression on me. Were she not the star, this would have been somewhat forgettable.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable film
Review: This is a good film, but Colin Firth fans will find disappointment in his accurate portrayal of an opportunist.
Rating: 
Summary: "Help!!"
Review: I have read all of Maeve Binchy's novel's and I am a huge fan. However, I was so disappointed in this movie adaptation! The story was so drastically changed that I felt that I was not watching the same story. Benny and Eve's childhood, was barely touched on--and when it was at the very beginning 'facts' were altered. Eve's relationship with the Sisters who raised her was entirely forgotten, as was Benny's difficult relationship with her parents. If you're interested in Maeve Binchy stick strictly to the novels. I do believe Minnie Driver and Cris O'Donnell are talented and fine actors, they played their parts well, despite the fact that the story was not adapted acurately.
Rating: 
Summary: what a disappointment.
Review: i recently read and very much enjoyed maeve binchy's "circle of friends". i was anxious to rent the movie to put faces with the characters and also to share the story with my husband. i was sorely disappointed at how much detail was taken away from this wonderful story. many of the "friends" were eliminated completely, characters were re-created or diluted and subplots rubbed out, decreasing the credibility of many elements of the story. even the ending was replaced with a more liberal point of view (which contradicts the 1950s irish catholic morals in the book). my condolences to the author for the loss of what was a captivating story.
Rating:
Summary: Well, the scenery is beautiful...
Review: Maeve Binchy may not be a modern day Shakespeare, but her books are engaging for their depiction of relationships of all sorts. Where the novel "Circle of Friends" was a charming, if somewhat slow, exploration of friendship and love, this film is a one-joke, tiresome bore, with theme and plot reduced to whether the main characters will lose their religious convictions enough to have sex. Some of the glaring changes from novel to film are completely puzzling. Where, in the book, Eve's bitterness towards the Westward family (her own grandparents and uncle) is highly understandable, the film leaves one wondering why she would so resent people generous enough to pay her way through school entirely because her father was once their employee. Sean Walsh, who originally was shady and avaricious, is now a highly strange man who attempts to rape Benny - and, where Benny's innocent parents could easily be deceived by a swindler, their encouraging a daughter to become involved with one so obviously a problem seems sinister. Those who, in reading the book, enjoyed the thought of Benny's being elegantly clad in a brocade original will find her breasts popping out of an ill-fitting black dress to be far more pathetic than humorous. This film is suitable for an afternoon of no-thought relaxation, but, if the scenery is a feast, it is a famine in the literary department.
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood Film with Binchy's book
Review: When I read Binchy's book of 'Circle of Friends', I felt like flipping through the pages of the book once more. Such a heart warming story about the original characters Benny, Eve, Nan, and Jack. It came to my interest when I heard that there was a movie made, based upon the book, starring Minnie Driver and Chris O'Donnel. I thought that it would be a big Hollywood hit, maybe even better than the book. But without even finishing the movie, knowing that it was a big dissapointment, I left. To me the book had more realistic characters, telling the story of each person. Their history and their family background, first giving an introduction of every characters life. Not to mention that the movie mainly focused on Benny and Jack. What the movie totally left out, is the Roman Catholic way of life, and the Irish culture. Don't miss out on the friendship of these wonderful characters. Watching the movie is just a waist of time. Turn off the video and please, pick up the book.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Romance
Review: This is very enjoyable film,well done,finely understated and well-played by all it's actors.Centering on Benny(Minnie Driver),a plain,unassuming girl growing up in Ireland in the fifties,the story begins when she goes off to college and becomes smitten with a handsome rugby player,played by Chris O'Donnell.Thier scenes together are wonderfully nuanced and insightful,and played with genuine feeling.The film can be a bit predictable,with familiar conflicts between Benny and her parents arising,and there's also an incongruously harsh sub-plot centered on a friend of Benny's played by Saffron Burrows,who gets pregnant,causing rather dire complications to ensue.It's better to focus on Minnie Driver,who simply sparkles in the lead role,although it always confuses me when a role calls for someone to be thought of as not particularly attractive,and then they hire an actress as drop-dead as Driver.Oh,well,that's movies for you.Suffice it to say that Minnie gives a great performance,tapping into Benny's defiant spirit,sharp intelligence,and boundless heart.It's a star-making performance,and a film to be proud of.
Rating:
Summary: Hmmmm
Review: It's not an everyone movie, those who have been cheated on can really feel the pain that the characters in this movie causes. An those you haven't, you'll wish that you will never feel this way. Other than that, it's full of forgiveness and starting over.
Rating:
Summary: A Realistic and Touching Film
Review: I related very much to this story. I grew up Catholic and I was always the likeable but not stunning girl. This is truly a movie for anyone who ever loved someone they thougt was out of reach. Chris O' Donell is great as the loveable, charming, but human Jack, who sees the beauty within Minnie Driver's sweet, tough, but vulnerable Benny The book is a bit better but this movie is pretty close.
|
