Spoiler Free Movie Review - The Circle

May 22, 2017
By: Kathy Rupert-Mathews

Um, we went and saw "The Circle". It definitely was not as good as I expected it to be. I blame the director.

Tom Hanks as Mr. Bailey, the owner and CEO of the massive tech company and Emma Watson as his young protege, Mae, gave me hope for an excellent movie. However, there was no spark. I felt as though the director, James Ponsoldt, kept having them tone down their acting, a sort of sotto voce. Patton Oswalt as Mr. Bailey's assistant, was under utilized. Bill Paxton was great as Mae's father. He was stricken with MS and delivered a delicate performance that made you have sympathy for him but not pity. Karen Gillian is Mae's friend who gets her the job interview. Ty Boyega was a mysterious man with ties to the beginning of the company, but that never gets fully fleshed out.

The story revolves around the company, The Circle. It is striving to make all the citizens of the world to become more "transparent". That is to say everyone should be on the grid with their every move, thought, and communication accessible to everyone on the internet. This is where part of the problem was for me in the movie. It had the possibility of being a dramatic, almost sinister plot but instead it became dull. The ending was abrupt. It was as though someone told the director to hurry it up, the movie was getting too long, so he just ended it. None of the three of us liked it. We were all quite disappointed.

So go. Have fun. Eat popcorn.