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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Hbo Home Video
Salesrank: 13366
Released: March 31, 1998 |
| Our Price: $31.36 |
| Used Price: $11.50 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Three girlhood friends now at college share first loves, first kisses and first betrayals. At the center of it all is the best-looking boy on campus. Can a self-conscious dreamer hook the biggest fish in the pond? ' 'A marvelous romantic comedy' ' (Siskel & Ebert)
Description of Circle of Friends:
A polished gem from 1995, this disarmingly sweet and dramatically insightful love story provided a charming showcase for Chris O'Donnell and, especially, then-newcomer Minnie Driver, whose performance drew critical raves and boosted her career to Hollywood. Smoothly adapted from the novel by Maeve Binchy and set in Ireland during the 1950s, the story focuses on Benny (Driver), a somewhat plump, plain-looking young woman attending university in Dublin who meets and quickly falls for Jack (O'Donnell), a handsome star of the university's rugby team who surprisingly reciprocates her glowing admiration. They're drawn together as soul mates, and their love is dramatically contrasted with a subplot involving Benny's more conventionally beautiful friend Nan (Saffron Burrows), whose appetite for older men leads her into a misguided and ultimately tragic relationship. A betrayal by Jack sets the stage for potential heartbreak, but director Pat O'Connor prevents these carefully drawn characters from resorting to sappy melodrama. They have lessons to learn about life and love, and Circle of Friends teaches those lessons with grace, humor, and heartfelt sincerity. --Jeff Shannon
Circle of Friends Reviews:
Sweet Irish Fairy Tale 
2009-09-09 - This story is structured very much like an Irish fairy tale. It is about three girls who are best friends since early childhood. All but one live in poverty. They grow up and go to college in Dublin. Two of the girls fall in love; the third wants to marry for money. Bennie, the girl who lives in relative comfort, falls in love first with a boy named Jack. Her parents, however, want to set her up with a sleazy man who works for them in her father's shop. Eve is being brought up by nuns in a very strict environment. The third friend lives in dire poverty with an alcoholic father. It is she that wants to marry for money.
The movie is sweet and poignant, with the inevitable ups and downs of girls in love, betrayals by each other and by men. The photography is beautiful and made me want to return to Ireland again.
I recommend this movie for an easy viewing pick. Get some popcorn, set yourself down and have an enjoyable two hours.
DVD purchase 
2009-08-04 - Received my purchase sooner than expected. The DVD was well protected and I received it in perfect condition. Very happy with my purchase.
dvd
2009-06-15 - One of my favourite films of all time. arrived on time as said and in good condition
first loves, first losses
2009-04-11 - This is an absolutely beautiful coming of age film, set in an Ireland of a different time that no longer exists. Driver is wonderful as an exceptional girl whose boyfriend has the brains to see beyond her plain appearance. Few films transmit the joy of discovery of youth: sex, of course, but also ideas that go beyond the confines of family and village. It is a time of opening out, when you can choose who you want to be while you know you are losing something from childhood as well. The film is pitch perfect for this.
At the heart of the film are also terrible betrayals. These things can cause such terrible pain when one is so young and open, so ready to embrace the new without seeing the dangers. It is where the true person begins to emerge, in spite of mistakes but also deeper motives and capabilities. We can grow beyond this early, and most of us must. As I watched this sensitive portrayal, I remembered my own first loves with pain and joy - all the potential, all the disappointment, all the growth. At this, the film succeeded for me at the deepest level.
Warmly recommended. There is not a jot of Hollywood sentimentality or deus ex machina to it.
Beautiful Ireland and Beautiful Benny
2009-01-30 - If you love Ireland, get this movie. It's a beautiful homage to the country, and she sure looks great.
If you love heroines who are are not typical, get this movie. Benny (Minnie Driver in an excellent performance) is a chubby, clumsy girl who has a big heart that breaks - and her big heart serves her well. You just root for her all of the time because she is so genuine. I'm not going to give you the plot because I don't want any spoilers to ruin your enjoyment. Oops, perhaps I gave you one. Sorry.
Well worth viewing; I recommend it highly. Excellent performances by all of the cast in particular Saffron Burrows (you love to hate her) and Colin Firth. As in Colin Firth: "Mr. Darcy, why do I hate you so much in this movie?" Good acting, is why.
