Circle of Friends

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Circle of Friends ★★½ 1994 (PG-13)

Nostalgic Irish comingofager focuses on three friends and the trials and tribulations they face when hearts and hormones conflict with a strict Catholic upbringing. Smalltown teenager Benny (Driver), overweight and slightly awkward, reunites with her friends at university in Dublin. Benny begins a romance with gentle, doeeyed Jack Foley (O'Donnell) and endures the humorous but sometimes painful passage from adolescence to womanhood. Sentimental moments can be too stickysweet at times, but humor, disappointment, and small triumphs are convincingly portrayed, offering a universal appeal. Adapted from the Maeve Binchy novel. 96m/C VHS, DVD . Chris O'Donnell, Minnie Driver, Geraldine O'Rawe, Saffron Burrows, Colin Firth, Alan Cumming, Aidan Gillen, Mick (Michael) Lally; D: Pat O'Connor; W: Andrew Davies; C: Kenneth Macmillan; M: Michael Kamen.

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