More often than not, literary fans tell you, that movies just cannot capture the brilliance of a book on the big screen. Joining that crowded collective is The Circle, and it is a frustrating endeavor to say the least.
The Circle is based on a bestselling book by Dave Eggers. What’s fascinating is that Eggers actually wrote the script for the film, so if anyone can capture the page-turning mania that he achieved in book form, it is certainly the author… no? One would think, but alas… no — not in the least. The Circle is a disappointing mess that star power, from Emma Watson to Tom Hanks, cannot even save.
Watson stars as Mae, a Bay Area woman who we meet in the most stereotypical of cinematic ways. She hates her job. Her car doesn’t work. Mae’s parents are having troubles, both financially and health-wise. Suddenly, a phone rings and it’s Mae’s BFF Annie (Karen Gillian, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2). She scored her pal a job interview at the tech company that it appears everyone wants to be employed by. If she can nail the interview, the entry level job is hers, and all her problems will disappear. Sure enough, Mae does just that.
Now, we’re taken into The Circle. It is a hybrid of Facebook/Google/Twitter where people mingle “socially,” while it is obvious to everyone except those on the screen that Big Brother is documenting your every move, health issue, dollar spent and kayaking accident. Yeah, the latter is supposed to be some sort of catalyst that turns our heroine from skeptic — who had previously colluded with the film’s main cynic Ty (Star Wars: The Force Awakens breakout John Boyega) to inform the audience about the darker elements of The Circle — to soul who wholly embraces this world and now even wears a camera on her lapel 24/7 to be the first person to live a “fully transparent life.” brought to you in hi-def to the world on The Circle.
Watson’s character turns allegiances on a dime in The Circle, and that is just the tip of the iceberg of issues we have with this film.
As is the case with the novel, The Circle should have been an indictment of the way we live our lives in 2017 — documenting and sharing everything as well as how we are allowing our tech companies that we collectively adore become unchecked monopolies that are slowly but surely evolving into something that could be dangerous at the least and damaging to democracy at the most. The film does not do that. Instead, it meanders along, soulless, trying to find a message that is coherent, sharp and salient to our society, circa 2017. The Circle sort of does that… but it is honestly in the film’s final moments that feel like they came out of not only nowhere, but another universe all together!
The actors do their best with what they’re given. After the success of Beauty and the Beast, Watson is one hot Hollywood property. She is solid in this film, but the material fails her. The Harry Potter veteran carries the movie and is in almost every scene. But, she cannot rewrite or re-direct what we witnessed. Hanks plays the Steve Jobs-type leader of this group and he is his usually stellar self. But there are so many lines that he utters and Watson too for that matter, which elicits laughs from the audience that were certainly not intended to be hilarious. One wonders if an actor would ever have the chutzpah to speak up at some point after a helmer called “cut” and say, “You know, my character would never say that.” Guess not by what we saw on the screen with The Circle.
Boyhood’s Ellar Coltrane makes a strong return to the screen after the success he had with that Linklater helmed, highly lauded film. He plays Mercer, who is in many ways is our conscious to Mae as she navigates this attractive, compelling, yet devious (so we’re told, not shown) landscape that Watson’s character now inhabits. Another strong actress who is failed in The Circle is Gillian. Her character might as well have pom-poms at the opening of the film, ready to cheer the glory of The Circle. When her character arc changes, it is a travesty. Someone in hair and makeup deserves complete and utter ridicule. They turn her into something that is a joke that is again, not supposed to be funny.
Director James Ponsoldt (who brought us the great Spectacular Now and The End of the Tour) swings and misses enormously here. It is stunning that so much talent, including the author who wrote the script, could not collaborate and give the audience a breathtaking joyride that is one part commentary on our society, one part corporate espionage thriller and all inclusive star vehicle for all involved. Instead what we get is a lifeless, often easy to be ridiculed hodgepodge of half-hearted and misguided indictments on the technology of today.
Grade: D