The Circle (2002) User Reviews

Total confusion

[lucyfan-3 · 1 January 2004]

What a boring movie. Leaves one wondering if there ever was an initial storyline. I expected a sleeper. The only sleeper was me, half way through it! Don't waste your time or money on this dog. I usually enjoy Treat Williams. Not even he could save the fraternity of bad writing and acting. Don't waste your time.

Wannabe thriller staring wannabe preppies

[Jossgod · 2/10 · 15 November 2002]

This film is a bad mix of Cruel Intentions, Dead Poets Society and School Ties. A group of 5 boys who "don't respect tradition" form a secret club which they, unoriginally, dub The Circle. At first the Circle just does good deads and susses out the bad at their preppy all boys boarding school, Runcie. (which in itself looks like the lamest, cheapest boarding school out there) But soon, the Circle's powers go to their heads. After one of their own, I'll call him Dummy, is caught stealing test answers and cheating, everything goes haywire. The other 4 members suspect someone of ratting out Dummy. It turns out the boy they suspect is a very bright, black (though you can barely tell with how light his skin is), picked on boy who also happens to be one of the members roomates. Now here is where it gets complicated. The filmakers seem to not be able to choose which plot they want to follow. The murder plot? The plot of the boy, I'll call him Lead Dummy (played by Robin Dunne, king of bad preppy movies. see Cruel Intentions 2 and The Skulls 2) who is trying to find out who killed his roomate, the sex scandal that's going on with the headmaster or the 5 other stupid stories they try, but don't succeed in starting during the movie.

Don't expect anything good, suspensful, or surprising in this movie. But rent it for a laugh, and then go rent the movies it tried so desperately to copy for some good viewing.

Road-kill stew

[roald-1 · 2/10 · 9 October 2003]

Road-kill stew of Sculls (2000), Cheaters (2000/I) and Scent of a woman (1992)(the end)- spiced with some ingredients from Dead Poets Society (1989). It does not help that Robin Dunne resembles Joshua Jackson. Horrible music.

Nice entertainment

[Jatoy · 7/10 · 26 May 2003]

My expectations for this movie were a lot lower than what this in the end really was. It was not excellent, but quite good and occasionally even exciting. The plot was not too complicated and it was easy to follow. Your life won´t change if you watch this, but it´s nice entertainment for an ordinary evening when you don´t have nothing to do. The actors were pretty good, too.

Intriguing film: sleeper

[sabrinabeaumont · 10/10 · 22 January 2006]

Well written movie, that keeps you guessing the whole way...treat williams always is good. This film could have had a big budget, but is shot with moody, gritty style. The story line could seem derivative but is actually quite original and although unusual is totally viable and redefines the genre....The film plot runs through a gamut of possibilities in the prep schools potential cast of characters who could have been the culprit of what looked like an accident, then potentially a suicide and yet turns out to be foul play...The school is really run by a powerful CIA type group of unknown students that maintain justice in the school...Director Sydney Furie is a legend and knew how to shoot this project. The screenwriter clearly put a good deal of time into working out the storyline...

could be my favorite

[MrCinema1 · 10/10 · 29 March 2007]

first i would like to debunk some of the negative reviews. people have written some of the following: the music was bad, the acting was bad, the story was confusing and hard to follow, and there are more. I thought the music was superb, and it really aided the movie. the acting was excellent and everyone was well cast. treat was flawless in his performance as Spencer runcie the headmaster of the school and reminded me of Michael Douglas. Robin Dunne stars as the main character, Alex who is sort of playing the role of a sherlock Holmes on campus trying to figure out all the loose ends of the tragic events taking place at runcie academy. he does an awesome job in this role and narrating throughout the movie.

the story for me was confusing when i first saw it only because i was not following it closely enough and paying attention to which character was which. this does not discredit the writing but is actually the fault of the viewer. now after seeing the film a couple more times i can understand what is happening and actually it is a positive aspect of the film that it takes a bit of your mind to understand what is happening. it is brilliantly written. i cant understand why people say it is a copy of this or that film, the only similarity is that it is in a prep school but it clearly is much different from dead poet's society or school ties and takes place many years later, it's a completely different film. i have to mention the actresses playing Tess and the female detective are both beautiful and add to the film this is the kind of movie that you can watch again and again like I do with other favorites eyes wide shut, the game, and what lies beneath. the setting is also interesting in the winter time. so all in all the different elements of this film come together to make it a masterpiece. i guess we all have different opinions and thats an interesting thing too.

This one can be fun, but only if you are looking for gaffes and goofs.

[rixrex · 23 July 2005]

On the surface, this looks like it might be an edgy or gritty drama about the seedy underside of prep school. What it ends up being is another nearly pointless exercise in bad writing, hack acting, overly melodramatic devices, and just plain goofiness. The plot has holes so big that you can drive a truck, no make that a train, through them. Everyone here is sleazy in some way or another, including our group of heroes, who are cheats and bullies. But then I guess they are okay compared to the real baddies, who are killers and transvestites. What a giant load of ****, and the thing that was fun was to see just how ludicrous, silly and offensive it could get. As one example of many, we have here a group of 5 students who secretly run the whole school through wiretaps, night heists, and coercion. Yeah, that's easy to believe! It ought to have been called Mafia Prep Academy.

Enjoyable, suspenseful, well acted

[gta-2 · 14 September 2011]

I would have given this movie a higher rating if there had not been so much smoking, which I consider irresponsible. Everyone in this movie was above average in their acting. Treat Williams was especially good, but he always is. Too many reviewers compare this movie with others, saying it is weaker for one reason or another. Don't compare movies like this - that's not what a review is for. A movie should stand on its own merits. I honestly think these people are just trying to show how many similar movies they've seen because it makes them feel better informed and smarter than the average reviewer. Guess what? They're not!