Circle of Friends with Minnie Driver & Chris O'Donnell

Circle of Friends [VHS] (1995) Starring: Chris O'Donnell, Minnie Driver Director: Pat O'Connor

From The New Yorker Although there isn't anything startlingly original in this tale of three Catholic girls falling in love in late-fifties Ireland, it gets a sweet telling in Pat O'Connor's pretty film. The first half, in particular, is amiable and well acted, especially by Minnie Driver, as the big, soft girl who lands the cute boy (Chris O'Donnell), and by Alan Cumming, who gives a funny, slithering performance as the opportunist who competes for her affections. The second half piles on the drama and gets mired in low-key intrigues. Still, there's a nice lilt to the proceedings. Adapted by Andrew Davies from Maeve Binchy's 1990 novel. -Bruce Diones Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

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