Geoffrey DeLeons Although this movie lacked any sort of plot, and was forever flitting from one insignificant scene to the next, I was willing to watch it because of the fine acting performance by Minnie Driver and that there seemed to be a story shaping-up between her character and that of Chris O'Donnell's. When he left Bene sitting for almost the entire time of his party, opting to dance with her glamorous friend, instead, I should have been warned.When this cad (Jack) actually tried and succeeded in getting Bene to dance as she was about to leave, I should have realized the black nature of this script and screenplay. When Jack has coitus with the glamorous friend (played by Saffron Burroughs) and gets her pregnant (he is told), he decides to tell Bene, whom he has, by then, some real affection for. As he is getting off the bus or trolley to meet her, tell her and break her heart, I turned the movie off and threw it out. A film really has to offend me for me to score fewer than 7 stars. No real plot and an apparent delight in hurting those vulnerable means a cinematic failure to me, even with Minnie Driver's memorable character and performance. The fact that Circle of Friends was based on a novel is no excuse. Another one should have been used. A fresh and compelling screenplay could have been developed, loosely using the characters of Bene and Jack. Certainly, this movie was talent wasted.

folsominc2 As much as I like Colin Firth ever since his portrayal in the A&E production of "Pride and Prejudice," "What a Girl Wants," and "Master of the Moor," I have to say that this movie was totally monotonous, dreary and tedious.A dull and boring and uninspired movie about girls in 1950's Ireland trying to find their womanhood through their drawers and the drawers of the men they are involved in.I had seen this movie before my interest in Firth's career and found the characters implausible and improbable. All the characters were unbelievable except perhaps the "Uriah Heep" of the movie played by Aidan Gillen which oiled up the screen really good and made you cringe with revulsion with his attack.No real conclusions of the movie except that Bernadette 'Benny' Hogan (Minnie Driver) decided to give sex a try.A real inspiring yawn . . .

david_k This review contains SPOILERS, I'm trying to save you from seeing this movie.I started watching this movie thinking I was going to like it. It looked like a coming of age tale, the 1950's Irish setting seemed appealing, the characters seemed interesting. The main character is a large, unattractive girl, Bennie, from a small town, and the story centers around her and her two friends, Eve and Nan. Eve was a simple girl with a moralistic bent, raised in a convent, while Nan grew up a sophisticated, big city girl in Dublin. The story really gets going while the three are at university. For a while it seemed like a sweet coming of age tale of some sort, but I should have been suspicious when all the excerpts of college lectures dealt with the sexual practices of savages, and with all the talk about sex, between the girls and between Bennie and her new boyfriend, a jock on campus and a pre-med major.The movie goes along pretty innocently for quite a while. The girls were in school, and it looked like the girls were striving to expand their horizons, improve their situation. They go to a dance and are caught up with boyfriends. Then a lot of the action is compressed in the last half hour of the movie, turning the whole thing into a big, sappy soap opera. Nan services some guy, get rejected by the buffoon when they discover she's pregnant, then seduces Bennie's boyfriend in an attempt to trick HIM into marrying her. Eve finds out, approaches Nan with a bread knife, causing Nan to fall, get cut, and lose the baby. The boyfriend then returns to Bennie and she takes him back, and the movie ends as these two are finally about to go all the way. As it ends, you don't feel uplifted, Bennie hasn't learned anything or grown, she remains a big, unattractive girl, now with a boyfriend that knows he graze in greener pastures once in a while and she'll take him back.

phunkypuhnk This is my favorite book. Maeve Binchy is my favorite author. I think the movie falls a bit short her intricately weaved story. Naturally there will be changes from book to screen but some of the things left out are the very things that make this story so lovable. If they had extended the length of the film then a lot more could have been done. A better development of characters and relationships could have taken place.If you've read the book than you know how significant the ending change is. It nearly changes the whole character of Benny. As glad as I am that Jack and Benny got back together in the film I think a truer growth of character would have occurred if they kept the original book ending. It is a decent film. Watchable. If you love this book than you might like the film. If you're obsessed then it is worth the cash. I wish I had it.