Review: The Circle

They're watching you.

Mae (Emma Watson) is working at a dead end job she hates when her friend Annie (Karen Gillan) gets her an interview at the internet powerhouse known as The Circle. They're like Google and Apple combined. The longer Mae works there, the more she gets caught up in The Circle's idea of complete transparency and no secrets whatsoever. 

I read the book earlier this year and really enjoyed it, but every single change the film made from the book was for the worse. I knew going in I was going to hate Emma Watson's casting as Mae. I pictured Melonie Diaz when reading the novel, and I knew that Alicia Vikander originally had this role. Both are better choices seeing as Emma always looks like she's thinking really hard about acting, and thus completely misses the mark. Though to be fair, Ellar Coltrane, who plays her friend Mercer (inexplicably changed from her ex boyfriend as he was in the novel) actually ends up being worse. Karen Gillam gives the strongest performance with what little she has. No one else gets the opportunity to emote. They're all in business mode. 

The problem with The Circle is that it removes a lot of what made it interesting. It also changes the ending all together. That's probably the most disappointing part, but I'm not surprised. When I put the book down, I said to myself: "some people are going to hate that." It makes me wonder if the script always had that ending, or if that's something that changed when Watson came on board since she seemingly only wants to play characters that appear a certain way. 

The film also doesn't make Mae's transition from "I like alone time" to corporate transparent spokesperson very believable. Part of it is because Watson can't act, but the rest is because it's rushed. The film removes a subplot from the book where Mae has a hookup post graphic things about their night together online,which is probably one of the biggest cautionary moments she has during her descent. It also removes her relationship with John Boyega's character, who was a mystery in the novel. He gives Mae a fake name and is nearly impossible for her to find. The mystery is removed here and he tells her his real name and what he's about almost immediately. It's a strange decision considering the screenwriters invented drama with Mercer getting death threats instead of simply just getting a ton of emails about his work. Why did we need that? Isn't Mae's drama a bit more important? 

It's funny, Mae says in her job interview that she's most afraid of "unfulfilled potential" and that's exactly what this film is. It had all the tools to be really good. You know, like following the novel and not giving the characters personality transplants. 

Recommended: No

Grade: D

Memorable quote: "We care about everybody you care about." - Bailey (Tom Hanks)