THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 12, 1995 TAG: 9504120030
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
NOSTALGIA. Sweetness. Irish blarney.
How can we lose when the setting is 1957 and the high school dance sways to ``Love Is a Many Splendored Thing''? Jennifer Jones and William Holden aren't there, but we do have Chris O'Donnell and Minnie Driver.
``Circle of Friends'' is a low-budget little Irish film that is charming and entertaining in a simple, unaffected way. It wears its smallness well.
The first year of college in Dublin for three small-town Irish girls is chronicled in this screenplay based loosely, very loosely, on Maeve Binchy's novel. The usual coming-of-age rites are observed - virginity lost, wisdom gained.
But the Irish setting and the no-nonsense approach, coupled with the simplicity of the 1950s themselves, makes it more level-headed and less prurient than the usual. It's a little like ``Where the Boys Are'' might have been if it were filmed in Ireland on a shoestring. Of course, we still have the stock characters - the plain girl who can't get a date, the sexy one who goes awry.
The film is largely driven by the quite interesting newcomer Minnie Driver. The movie's advertising campaign has presented Benny, the girl she plays, as something of a Cinderella, with the most popular boy in school falling for the ugly duckling. That may sell tickets, but it isn't accurate. Benny is actually an intelligent, feet-on-the-ground character who teaches Prince Charming a thing or two.
Chris O'Donnell (``Scent of a Woman'') actually manages to play Jack Foley, the rugby star and best-looking guy in school, without making him either obnoxious or smarty. O'Donnell suggests a young man who is expected to be popular and does as expected.
Saffron Burrows, with the good looks of a model (which she is), plays sexy Nan, the girl who naively uses sex to escape her unhappy home. Colin Firth (``Valmont'') is the older man who leads her astray.
The third girl, Eve, played by Geraldine O'Rawe, was raised by nuns and has wisdom beyond her years. She gets short shrift though, as the movie shifts gears in mid-blarney. Starting as a tale of three girls, it eventually focuses primarily on the character played by Driver. It's all to the good, because she is by far the most interesting of the lot.
Alan Cumming has a despicable, sleazeball role as the nasty clerk who tries to take over the family business. He's so slimy that he looks like a Dickens villain. It's one of those messy subplots that we could do without.
Along the way, the characters do things like go to see Marlon Brando in ``On the Waterfront'' and listen to Little Richard sing snippets from ``The Girl Can't Help It.'' The period sounds, including Kitty Kallan singing ``Little Things Mean a Lot'' (composed by a Richmonder), are bell-ringers.
``Circle of Friends'' has an Irish brogue, but it is universal, the surprise hit dating flick that is just in time for spring. ILLUSTRATION: SAVOY PICTURES
From left, Minnie Driver, Geraldine O'Rawe and Saffron Burrows star
as three small town Irish girls who go to college in Dublin in
search of adventure and romance.
MOVIE REVIEW
``Circle of Friends''
Cast: Chris O'Donnell, Minnie Driver, Colin Firth, Geraldine
O'Rawe, Saffron Burrows
Director: Pat O'Connor
Screenplay: Andrew Davies, based on the novel by Maeve Binchy
Music: Michael Kamen
MPAA rating: PG-13 (sexuality but, after all, it's set in the
1950s)
Mal's rating: 3 stars
Locations: Chesapeake Square in Chesapeake; Circle 4 in Norfolk;
Columbus, Kemps River, Lynnhaven Mall, Surf-N-Sand in Virginia
Beach
by CNB