I saw the trailer for this movie and I though that this is another version of The Firm but in a digital age. Remember in the Firm in which a person gets their dream job in a lauded and prestigious small law firm and treats everyone like family? Well, this movie is like that Tom Cruise movie in which he discover that the firm is corrupt as they are money launderers and one of the clients is the Mafia. This is about the same movie and even though they both start similarly strong, this movie gets more ridiculous as it winds down to it silly conclusion.
Mae Holland (Emma Watson) is stuck at a dead-end job that she is unhappy at. She gets a call from her friend, Annie (Karen Gillian), who works at the Circle, a powerful tech company. She is constantly traveling because of her responsibilities and is upbeat and it is a surprise because how stressful her job is. Mae gets an interview at the Circle and immediately retains an entry-level job at Customer Experience. While at the campus, she will be rated out of 100 by the people she assists, and she is determined to get her score very high. The Circle is a large campus that encourages employees to spend a lot there and be open with others. Both Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks) and Tom Stenton (Patton Oswalt) are co-owners of the company.
Mae's family background is sad as her father, Vinnie (Bill Paxton, in his final role before his passing), as he has multiple sclerosis and needs some help from his wife, Bonnie (Glenne Headly). Also, in her personal life, her old friend, Mercer (Ellar Coltrane), becomes acquainted with her. Back at the Circle, two employees question Mae as to why she did not update her profile and also participated in the activities over the weekend. She replies that she was with her family, but Mae determines to become better. During another late night party at the Circle, Mae again sees a person named Ty (John Boyega) takes her to a restricted area she should not be in and shows her an underground area of what is potentially the future of The Circle and it is not looking good for society.
This movie was nearly a disaster because this movie felt like a 20-year-old script just waiting to be shown and waiting for a director and studio to make it. This movie is dated tackling the themes of transparency, which was borderline pretentious and ludicrous, privacy and technology. The problem is that we are already here in this digital age in which people will temper with other people's personalities, problems and personal life that it is really up to oneself to protect his/her own identity. Basically, all that is going for this movie is the cast and the premise and it is all assembled well in the first 15-20 minutes and then the movie goes into the toilet.
Emma Watson is fine in her role but again, her arc is a bit too predictable as she starts as a new employee, find out what's going behind the scenes, figure out what to do about it and then confront the enemy. Isn't that sound familiar? Sort of like The Firm? If Tom Hanks were a little more menacing in his role, then I would give him the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately and sadly, this is one of his rare forgettable roles. Patton Oswalt has nothing to do here and Ellar Coltrane is just there as a device to the main plot. I like John Boyega in this as he could blend into surroundings and into situations. He's not simply "the guy from Star Wars: The Force Awakens". I can't wait to see what he can do with other projects.
Director James Ponsoldt has made one of the best coming of age movies in the past few years with The Spectacular Now. And, with this, there is no originality and not much social commentary about privacy and social media. It's simply a chore or game within the confines of the company and it gets dismal. Plus, the conclusion does not help, whatsoever. This is one of the most disappointing movies of the year.
*1/2
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