How Family-Friendly Is The Circle?

Rating: PG-13, for a sexual situation, brief strong language and some thematic elements including drug use.

Have you heard? The Internet is evil! That’s basically the point of this cautionary tale, based on Dave Eggers’ bestseller, which covers much of the same ground as countless technological thrillers before it. Emma Watson stars as a wide-eyed new employee at a shiny social media behemoth known as The Circle. It’s sort of like Google on steroids, and it’s similarly situated smack in the middle of the Bay Area. Watson’s Mae is super excited to leave her small town and take an entry-level job there, and quickly succumbs to the corporate culture of sharing everything, all the time, as the company’s gregarious CEO (Tom Hanks) instructs. But when she agrees to take part in a live experiment that basically destroys all notions of personal privacy, bad things happen. There’s quite a bit of language throughout, including Hanks’ use of the one F-bomb you’re allowed in a PG-13 movie. Mae accidentally broadcasts an embarrassing sexual situation involving her mother (Glenne Headly) and her father (Bill Paxton), who suffers from multiple sclerosis. A character dies. And there’s just general tension as Mae gets closer to the truth about the company’s true intentions. The film from director James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now) is glossy but ultimately feels choppy. OK for tweens and older.