The Circle (2002)

Some students at Runcie prep school form an elite club. The group is implicated in a cheating scandal and one of the club members dies mysteriously. Another member decides to try and discover the dangerous truth about Runcie.

Director:

Sidney J. Furie

Writer:

Brian Hannan

Stars:

Treat Williams, Robin Dunne, Gianpaolo Venuta

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Treat Williams	...	Mr. Spencer Runcie
Robin Dunne	...	Alex Desineau
Gianpaolo Venuta	...	Jetson Harlow (as Gian-Paolo Venuta)
Daniel Enright	...	Demian Carthy
Dylan Trowbridge	...	Baker Salsbury
J. Adam Brown	...	John Frazier
Jamie Robinson	...	Marcus Faulkner
Malin Akerman	...	Tess
Aaron Poole	...	Smitty Jacobson
Gordon Currie	...	Tom Wilkinson
Stewart Arnott	...	Mr. Turner
Alex Karzis	...	Detective Razatos
Anaya Farrell	...	Detective Sabrina
Ken James	...	Chief Lloyd Huxley
Dan Petronijevic	...	Bully #1 (as Daniel Petronijevic)

Storyline

Five friends unite to constitute a circle of sneaks and cheaters at a private boys boarding school. A file cabinet containing test papers is found tampered with and the group is implicated as a result of getting top grades for the paper. All A students are brought before the honours council for questioning. One member of the council, Smitty, vows intently to find the cheaters. Someone narcs on one of the Circle, Frazier, who soon expelled. The rest of the Circle agree to give the narc no mercy. They beleive it was Faulkner, also an A student but not a member of the Circle. Faulkner is Alex's roommate; Alex is a member and believes he is innocent. Jetson Harlow, another member, sends Faulkner a fake rejection letter from MIT for revenge. Faulkner ends up dead, his death labelled a suicide.

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Plot Keywords:

torture | false identity | cross dressing | exam | boxer shorts | 

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Taglines:

Being An Outsider Can Be Murder

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Genres:

Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some sexual content and violence

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 December 2002 (Spain)

Also Known As:

The Fraternity

Filming Locations:

Ridley College, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 5,400,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$17,419 (USA) (20 April 2001)

Gross:

$661,445 (USA) (25 January 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

GFT Circle Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Wannabe thriller staring wannabe preppies

This film is a bad mix of Cruel Intentions, Dead Poets Society and School Ties. A group of 5 boys who "don't respect tradition" form a secret club which they, unoriginally, dub The Circle. At first the Circle just does good deads and susses out the bad at their preppy all boys boarding school, Runcie. (which in itself looks like the lamest, cheapest boarding school out there) But soon, the Circle's powers go to their heads. After one of their own, I'll call him Dummy, is caught stealing test answers and cheating, everything goes haywire. The other 4 members suspect someone of ratting out Dummy. It turns out the boy they suspect is a very bright, black (though you can barely tell with how light his skin is), picked on boy who also happens to be one of the members roomates. Now here is where it gets complicated. The filmakers seem to not be able to choose which plot they want to follow. The murder plot? The plot of the boy, I'll call him Lead Dummy (played by Robin Dunne, king of bad preppy movies. see Cruel Intentions 2 and The Skulls 2) who is trying to find out who killed his roomate, the sex scandal that's going on with the headmaster or the 5 other stupid stories they try, but don't succeed in starting during the movie.

Don't expect anything good, suspensful, or surprising in this movie. But rent it for a laugh, and then go rent the movies it tried so desperately to copy for some good viewing.