Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

I get the premise. How much can social technology influence our society and how good intentions go bad. The plot is so far fetched that audience has to ignore the gross ignorance of the characters despite their tremendous technical competence which just doesn't gel. Big names in this film can't save it..

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday MorningBored with her desk-bound office job, Mae (Emma Watson) gets her friend to pull a few strings, and lands a job at prestigious tech firm The Circle. She is soon welcomed as one of the family, and finds her colleagues eager to help her use all the technology on hand to improve her life for the better. She also comes to the attention of Bailey (Tom Hanks), the CEO of the organization, who sees potential in her. But another co-worker, Ty (John Boyega) opens her eyes to just how invasive The Circle is set to become. As Mae becomes more ruthless and rises up the ranks, it sets her on a collision course of events, in which her morality and ethics will be tested to the limit.Given recent scandalous revelations, concerning Facebook (which 'The Circle' is none too subtly meant to represent!) and its mishandling of private information of its users, involving the Cambridge Analytica firm, The Circle has hit on an inspired concept for a film, and one which is certainly timely and relevant. Indeed, it looks like one or two of my 'friends' have permanently logged out now, probably because of it, and so we're having these slightly grovelling adverts being run at the moment, trying to reassure everybody that they're going to make their settings easier to unblock, and there's nothing to worry about anymore. Unfortunately, despite the great concept, this film sadly fails to really do it any justice. Hanks was quite a big name for Netflix to pull, even if he may be entering the Autumn of his career now, and his star is slightly waning. But with this in mind, it's even more amazing how little screen time he seems to occupy, at least in the first half. But even so, his character just ends up coming off as really corny, without any solid conviction. As a more fresh faced star, Watson fits the modern tech world scene a bit more smoothly, but the crazed cult-like world she enters just comes off as silly rather than creepy. But it sets the tone for the film in general, which despite its interesting idea, is for the most part just totally unengaging and strangely dull, with characters spouting ridiculous, wordy dialogue that doesn't feel real at all. In spite of everything, weirdly you do feel compelled to find out how it will end, which at least means it never feels tired or predictable. But then it does roll by, and its the most corn-fed, saccharine laden, nonsensical drivel you can imagine, an ill-fitting pay off to a film of enormously wasted potential. **

Mae (Emma Watson) unexpectedly lands a job at The Circle - a social media company which seems to be an amalgam of Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon etc. - but mostly Facebook (allegedly). She's carried away on a wave of optimism for the life-sharing potential of the software forgetting the importance of privacy.And it's privacy, and the way social media software can steal it from us, that's the theme of the movie. Some scenes are eerily prescient - particularly one involving voting and elections.Sadly, a strong theme and some accurate predictions don't make a movie. We need strong characters who we care about. But Mae's motivations are confused, changing and contradictory and ultimately she loses our sympathy.The other main character is the boss of the company. We could call him Jeff Zuckjob, but actually he's called Bailey and played by Tom Hanks. For such a character, a thin veneer of social largesse hides a deep obsession with what salable data can be collected, who would want to buy it, and how could they use it. What drives these people is power and ultimately money - if we're looking for Bailey's motivation: follow the money. But unfortunately the film just doesn't do that. We get no more than the vaguest of hints as to what really drives The Circle and what drives Bailey, so his character too ends up being unsatisfactory.In the end, the exposition of the theme gets in the way of the story.It's been suggested on here that a strong cast were sold on the importance of the theme before they read the screenplay. Emma, and particularly Tom with his age and experience, should really have fixed this before it got to the screen. But maybe that's not how Hollywood works these days.If you're looking to see political issues cleverly woven into a movie, try Pelican Brief, or Erin Brokovich. Oh. Actually, both with Julia Roberts. I wonder if that's significant.

Could have been a good movie however, the plot never really goes anywhere.