Starter for 10

source: Starter for 10

I went last night to see Starter For Ten a British based film with the excellent young up and coming actor James McVoy. Not an awful film but not as clever as it would like to be, I did like it, I just felt it was trying to be more than it was. It felt like the writers were trying to be Richard Curtis but failing with the actual cleverness of his writing, timing and general script play. The title is taken from the well known, in the UK, University Challenge and a young lad who always wants more knowledge and generally dreams of better things for himself, an opening gambit: "Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to be clever. Some people are born clever, same way some people are born beautiful. I'm not one of those people" The problem I had with it is I felt the jokes coming before they did, you could almost script it yourself around the usual 'My Family' style sitcom, which in it's place has it's very funny moments but wouldn't hold up on the silver screen. The parts I actually liked more were when it seemed to ad lib slightly, a little turn of phrase, but overall underwhelmed. It's not a nasty film by any stroke of the imagination, it's got a certain warmth, it's probably trying to hard and that's it ultimate downfall. I'd recommend but on DVD when you have time to catch up on recent movies. -------- Reading other entries I can now understand why it was a certain way as I've discovered the American backing...that explains a Lot! I have however included my original opinion.

When I read about this coming-of-age dramedy about a young Essex bloke coming to University and joining the "University Challenge" team (Americans might be familiar with their "Quiz Bowl" version), I was hoping to see a "lovable losers rise to the top and win the championship" film. That is not STARTER FOR TEN. While there a few scenes of preparations for matches, we only are witness to one round of University Challenge play. STARTER FOR TEN is more of a John Hughes tale of Brian (James McAvoy sporting a terrible haircut) pining for the wrong girl (Alice Eve), while the "right" one (Rebecca Hall looking very Molly Ringwald) is right under his nose. Luckily, our Miss Wrong doesn't turn out to be a Miss Bitch. All of her cards are on the table and it's just Brian's skewed values that keep him focusing that keep him from focusing where he needs to. A shake up at the University Challenge game gets Brian's mind right. A quaint little film with a killer soundtrack (though some of the songs are from years after the 1985/1986 timeframe, particularly The Cure's "Pictures of You" which came out in 1989) STARTER FOR TEN provides a few laughs and smiles on a lazy afternoon.

I can't begin to explain why this film hit me the way it did, but I truly hated it as much as any in recent memory. I love the genre, and had never heard of the actors before this film, so I had no personal bias against any of them. But every minute of watching it made me feel cheated out of that 60 seconds. This was the first I'd seen of James McAvoy, who I'll admit has never done a movie I've liked (I think "Wanted" is one of the three worst superhero movies I've ever seen), and I did want to like him and his character. But all I wanted to do was slap him, hard and repeatedly. Every teen in the film is a glaring cliché, but mostly from mainstream films. Maybe the idea was to fill an art-house-aimed title with such clichés in hopes that few members of its audience patronized mainstream teen fare and therefore wouldn't be aware of all the contrivances. But even if you haven't seen a teen romantic comedy-drama since "Footloose", you're sure to pick up on many of the components of the standard high-concept formula of "Working class good guy misguided into falling for wealthy, self-centered beauty, discovers her shortcomings and his own in the process, realizes that ugly-duckling-turned-swan is who he should really care about, etc." As for the device that drives the hackneyed plot, it's a high-minded TV trivia competition for university co-eds rather than a sporting event, but otherwise all the usual ingredients are here. Somehow, though, they manage to work even more poorly in this film than in many Hollywood fluff pieces. Again, this critique is a lot more visceral than intellectual, but much as I hate to borrow from Roger Ebert, "I really, really, really HATED this movie!"

"Starter for 10" is a 2006 British film set in 1985 about a working class young man, Brian Jackson (James McAvoy) who attends Bristol University on scholarship and is accepted on the team of "University Challenge," a televised college quiz show. He's crazy for a hot blonde on the team, Alice (Alice Eve). After a disastrous post-Christmas visit to her house when his penchant for movie quotes gets him in trouble, he spends New Year's Eve with another girl, the more grounded and politically active Rebecca Epstein (Rebecca Hall) -- but when he wishes her Happy New Year, he calls her Alice. He has a habit of blowing it, and the best is yet to come. I actually sought out this film because I am a huge fan of Benedict Cumberbatch. Here, Cumberbatch plays the fastidious nerdy head of the College Quiz team (even though they keep losing), and he's hilarious. When he gets into a fight with one of Brian's friends from home, the guy punches him, and Cumberbatch's response is to start flapping his hands on him as if he's shaking out a dishtowel. The acting in this film is very good, and it's interesting to see that all these young people have come up together. Cumberbatch and Eve are in the upcoming Star Trek; Rebecca Hall and Cumberbatch starred in the miniseries "Parade's End," and McAvoy, of course, has had a marvelous career, making a splash in films right around the time this film was released. The supporting cast is led by the wonderful Lindsay Duncan and Charles Dance as Alice's parents, and Catherine Tate as Brian's mother. While "Starter for 10" is a little predictable, it has a nice quality about it and gives one a feel for university life, leaving home, meeting new people, and the adjustments that need to be made.

Like the fictional Bristol University Challenge team, so much potential recklessly thrown away ! So many interesting characters undeveloped, unexplored, unexploited from ice cream man Des and Brian's bizarre flatmates to Lucy Chang (why did she alone run up to comfort obnoxious Tristram ?) Instead, a captivating introduction ended abruptly in a tagged on, rushed ending of unbelievable banality and unashamed cliché as Brian (wonderfully portrayed throughout by McAvoy)ran into the arms of sweet, quirky Jewess, Rebecca, rejecting shallow, vain gentile Alice (Is this anti-gentile racism? Would it be anti-semitic if the roles were reversed ?). Alice's promiscuity is portrayed with heavy reference to Andie McDowall's 'Four Weddings...' list of entries which can be stomached were it not for rushed manner of her ultimate denouement. Yes, so what's new, student romances are rushed, clumsy affairs but this does not mean this film should have so lost confidence and ended that way,too. The most interesting aspect, the University Challenge quiz had no satisfactory conclusion- what about the team member's fortunes both during and after the quiz ? Their -especially Tristram's (forget shallow Alice's) -, the university's, the TV company's, his family's and Bamber's reaction to Brian betrayal of his principals and his team was far far more an interesting core than the usual plot 'device' of the ultimate identity of Brian's girlfriend (yawn). This could have been Quiz Show with laughs- British laughs, at that ! This is a film that promised much , introducing wonderful characters but lost confidence so dramatically, the ending seemed nothing more than a tacked- on afterthought. A waste of money at the high prices West End cinemas are asking these days- wait for it on TV to catch the excellent acting and build-up then switch off and make the tea when the University Challenge scenes end. I would give it more than 4/10 but the bitterness of my disappointment is such, it deserves less for promising more

This is not a great film by any means, but a gently enjoyable comedy. There are some very funny moments, most of them involving Benedict Cumberbatch's pompous Patrick. The shaky period sense is a bit distracting - the music is all over the place, and surely no one in the mid-80s used the expression 'we'll just hang out', for instance? The acting is fine, with one really exceptional performance from Rebecca Hall. She has that rare quality of seeming completely spontaneous; her lines don't seem rehearsed but completely natural. She has huge charm and if there is any justice she will be a big star, and not just because of her family connections - this girl acts everyone else off the screen.

I really really enjoyed this film. No, it wasn't an in-depth "gritty" drama, probing the dark side of the mundane, nor did it hold any strong political or social message. But this is a sweet, touching and, most of all, funny film. Starter for Ten relies heavily on the charm and comedy of the characters in the film to carry it over a fairly weak plot, but seeing as the outcome is such a cheerful and good natured film, i have no complaints! My own favourite character was Patrick, the oh-so serious leader of the team, but all of the cast were strong and the characters all likable in their own ways. S.for.Ten left me with a big smile on my face- a silly, feel good British comedy which doesn't take itself too seriously. Enjoy!

hmm, yes. we British must really annoy the Americans. by producing so many lame predictable films. ten minutes into this you know everything thats going to happen, and so the rest of just got on my nerves i'm afraid. worst moment was when James Macavoy got off with the girl you know hes going to end up with anyway and - gasp - says the other girls name. not because that might happen but because it helps drag out the nonexistent drama for another half hour. oh and every five minutes another eighties 'classic' is dropped into the soundtrack in the desperate attempt to create a feeling of nostalgia. i suppose this is to help sell the film and they do a pretty good job in recreating the look of the period. but thats not enough, i want an interesting story dammit. one good point was the guy playing bamber gasgoigne. if the whole film had been about universtiy challenge it might have been worth watching but as it is... gosh, this film annoyed me more than i thought.

Having read and enjoyed the book, I'm afraid I was fairly disappointed with the adaptation. They've removed a lot of the bleak stuff that makes the book funny, and upped the schmaltz factor. Maybe they thought that this would appeal more to American audiences, but whereas the humour in the book is more akin to "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "The Office" - where you cringe as you're laughing - they've tried to turn the film into a university version of "Love Actually". They've made the character of Brian far more sympathetic. He has his faults in the book - he can be insensitive, selfish and tactless, but you still root for him. In the film, he is now more of a victim of circumstance. And another major problem is that Rebecca Hall is completely miscast as Rebecca. In the book, the character is a complete contrast to Alice: a short, dark, aggressive, Jewish Scot. Here she and Alice are like interchangeable Barbie dolls: one blonde, one brunette. So Brian ultimately has to choose between two identically leggy posh girls. Oh - and she's too old as well! Having said that, Benedict Cumberbatch is great, and the "University Challenge" recreation spot on, with a fantastically accurate performance from Mark Gatiss as Bamber. Ultimately, though, the film feels inconsequential and a bit pointless. An original and entertaining novel has been fed into the Hollywood sausage machine and come out far the worse for it. Go and read the book instead would be my advice...