Circle Of Friends (1995) Critic Reviews

Circle of Friends is heartwarming and poignant, a love story that glows with intelligence and feeling.Read the full review

Driver's tough core of honesty and wit is bewitching. So's the movie.Read the full review

Another nice thing about Circle of Friends is that it escapes a happily-ever-after scenario to provide more bite and toughness than it first promises.Read the full review

It's not a challenging movie or an original one, but it does have its pleasures -- most notably a radiant, soulful debut performance from Driver, who saves Circle of Friends from being merely an Irish ugly duckling story.Read the full review

Naturally charming without being beautiful, Driver brings extraordinary intensity and tenderness to a role that easily could have become sappy.Read the full review

It's sweet and winsome and a little pat, done with just enough feeling to lift it out of its class. [15 Mar 1995, Pg.F5]Read the full review

As Benny, a small- town Irish teenager in the '50s who goes off to university in Dublin, Minnie Driver has a touchingly awkward prettiness. Her jaw may be as square as a picture frame, but her smile lights her up from within.Read the full review

As Benny (short for Bernadette), a big-boned, headstrong lass who strains winningly against the restrictions of family, religion and just plain growing up, [Driver's] a comedic breath of fresh air, easily the best thing about the movie.Read the full review

Young Benny has a nice smile, and she and Jack seem like pleasant people, but in the end (and in the beginning and in the middle) it's hard to get worked up about them.Read the full review