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It must be at least five or six years since I saw this movie last, and I couldn't remember much of it before I saw it again yesterday. That does not surprise me since Circle of Friends truly isn't a very memorable film. It's sweet and extremely well-acted (apart from the always boring Chris O'Donnell)... but that's about it.

It was fun, though, to see Minnie Driver, Saffron Burrows, and Aidan Gillen (Queer as Folk, UK version) in early roles. As always, Colin Firth delivered a fine performance.

Perhaps not having read Maeve Binchy's book, in which this film is based, and never seeing the film when it was released, helped this viewer to enjoy it, perhaps more than most people that saw it in its commercial debut. Pat O'Connor and his adapter, Andrew Davies, give us a portrait about the friendship of three young girls in the story, as they go from childhood to womanhood in the Ireland of some time ago.

We meet the three friends as the film opens. There are Benny, Eve and Nan, who are inseparable. They grow up and their relationship continues right through adulthood. The three friends go to university and we see them attending Professor Flynn's class, which seems to be the girls' favorite teacher.

Nan, the prettiest of the three has no prospects of marrying into money. She decides to go after Simon Westwood, a wrong choice that turns out even worse when she discovers he couldn't care less for her. He just wants to marry money and she doesn't have it. Eva, the orphan girl brought up by nuns, has no prospects either, but she has a cottage in the country that Nan finds convenient for exploring her sexuality with Simon.

The best adjusted of the three friends is plain Benny, who seems destined to marry her father's clerk, the reptilian Sean. She has her eyes set on Jack Foley, the hunky jock. Jack in turn likes her, but things intervene between them.

Minnie Driver, is a marvelous presence in the film. She makes the plain Benny come alive. Saffron Burrows is perfect as the vain and beautiful Nan. Geraldine O'Rawe plays Eve. Chris O'Donnell is Jack Foley, who makes a good impression. Alan Cumming, Colin Firth and Ciaran Hinds are perfect in their supporting roles.

"Circle of Friends", while not breaking any ground, is still a good movie to watch because Pat O'Connor's direction and the ensemble acting cast.

I very recently read Circle of friends, and found it endearing, smart and very true to life. I felt that the movie was a very unsuccessful attempt at smashing the story line to a very tipical flick that was not at all believable. I might have enjoyed the movie more had I not read the book, but I was very distracted at the seemingly non-existing morals that were so much a part of the book. One particular annoyance is the portrayal of Nan, she was an un-likeable character in the book, but there was a means behind the "madness". The movie had you beleiving she was just a whore, but there was a whole sidestory for her motivation to seduce Simon Westward, which wasn't even hinted at in the movie. While I did like the performances of Benny and Eve, I thought Chris O'donnel as Jack was all wrong, he lacked the upbeat sincerely easy-going qualities that made Jack Jack. I would not reccomend this movie to fans of the book that truly understood that is was more than just about some flimsy romance between Benny and Jack. I also want to note that the ending was supremely outside the scope of what is was meant to be. Someone else mentioned that is was a more happy ending than in the book, but I disagree wholeheartedly. In the book you see Benny overcome her sadness and depression from that first love that would inevitably break her heart. The ending in the movie was cliche and typical of hollywood. In my opinion a very flimsy chick-flick with not enough to hold it together.

As a "stand alone" this film is quite passable. If, however, you are a fan of Maeve Binchy and have read the book, you will probably spend a good deal of the film comparing the two, and the film comes off unfavourably. Some of the differences are minor, but the ending is completely different. I have no intention of comparing the two endings here as I don't want to be a spoiler, suffice it to say that if you have read the book, the film ending is a major disappointment. I also think that Benny was totally miscast. That the Benny of the book is a big woman is relevant to the storyline, whereas Minnie Driver, although quite tall, can't be called big under any stretch of the imagination. The film characters seemed wooden to me in comparison with the book characters. However, if you're not into reading books, the film is worth watching.

This is the first movie I ever saw with Minnie Driver, and I loved how the director made her get porked up for the role. We were meant to see the inner beauty of Benny, of course, but also to see that occasional external loveliness that can come through in her purely emotional situations.

Of course, I thought Nan was acting rather like a whore when she bedded Jack for all the wrong reasons, just as the audience was meant to despise such an act. As a whole, my emotions were pulled in all the right directions, so kudos to the directing crew!

A story of love, friendship, curiosity, betrayal, and forgiveness that hits all the right chords.