Mae (Emma Watson) is slogging through life doing temp work as a customer service representative. Her dad (Bill Paxton) has multiple sclerosis but the treatment he needs isn’t covered by insurance. Her car breaks down and leaves her stranded on the side of the road. But luck is on her side. First, her longtime friend, Mercer (Ellar Coltrane) is able to fix her car. Second, her other longtime friend, Annie (Karen Gillan) gets her an interview at The Circle, a large technology company that seems like a cross between Apple and Facebook.
Of course, Mae nails the interview and begins to work as a customer service rep for The Circle. She’s indoctrinated into the company’s view that everything about yourself should be shared with the rest of the company. Keeping your co-workers updated on your weekend plans isn’t enough. You should invite your co-workers to be involved in them somehow.
The Circle is about to roll out a product called the SeeChange, a small, inconspicuous camera that can be placed anywhere. It can share its high-definition broadcast to the Internet instantly. Company founder Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks) envisions a world where the camera could be used to unmask corruption, human rights violations, and general criminality. “Knowing is good, but knowing everything is better,” he says.
Mae finds herself promoted to a unique role: To use the SeeChange camera to broadcast her life and promote the company’s notion that secrets are lies. If everything is out in the open, then no-one would be able to deceive anyone. Everyone’s views would be heard. The Circle believes that this would be the ultimate form of democracy. Mae finds out the hard way that this may not be the case.
The Circle, the movie, makes some interesting points about accountability and the power of social media to alter the real world. Unfortunately, director James Ponsoldt and co-writer Dave Eggers do nothing interesting or creative with those points. The Circle is billed as a kind of techno-thriller although very little about it is thrilling.
Emma Watson’s character instantly transforms from a stereotypical millennial into a spokesperson for a multi-billion dollar corporation a little too quickly to be believable. Karen Gillan’s clothes, makeup, and hair do more to convey her character’s overworked nature than her actual performance. John Boyega never appears on-screen with any major cast members other than Emma Watson, which indicates to me that his character was either added in later or he was working on another film during the principal photography of The Circle. It feels like the former would make the most sense as his role feels tacked-on.
Only Tom Hanks’ performance feels right, mainly because it is quite close to the “real” Tom Hanks. His personality is perfect for the role of Eamon Bailey, someone who needs to exude trustworthiness. He’s the only truly redeeming quality of the entire picture.
There’s a lot that can and probably should be said about the power of social media over our lives and our world. The Circle is not the film to make those statements.
2.0 out of 5.0 stars
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