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Moviola > Films > Starter for Ten
Starter for Ten (12A) 96 mins"Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to be clever", Brian Jackson confesses in voice-over at the beginning of Starter for Ten. A working class student from Essex navigating his first year at Bristol University in Mrs Thatcher's Britain of 1985, Brian (James McAvoy) has a lot to prove. While his hometown mates (Dominic Cooper and James Corden from The History Boys) and his widowed mother (Catherine Tate) worry about him leaving them behind as he moves into a different world, Brian's biggest concern is making it on to the University Challenge team. Amidst Tarts and Vicars dances, anti-apartheid rallies, squalid student digs and puffs of dope, Brian finds himself torn between two very different undergraduettes: ultra-fit blonde bombshell and University Challenge team-mate Alice (Alice Eve) and thoughtful, politically conscious Rebecca (Rebecca Hall). Like all honest coming-of-age stories, Starter for Ten is ultimately about its hero discovering the difference between knowledge and wisdom. "The story will appeal to adults who grew up in the 80s, anyone who has gone through higher education, and anyone who's tried to fit in to something they weren't meant for" says James McAvoy. "Adapting his best-selling novel, David Nicholls tells a conventional rites-of-passage story but lifts it with a generous dose of 80s nostalgia, plenty of quick-fire wit and an uncompromising sense of Britishness. For director Tom Vaughan, these are all the ingredients of a winning big screen debut. Casting James McAvoy in the lead scores him extra points." BBC Movies "Perfectly capturing the '80s university experience with a detail-oriented screenplay and a soundtrack heavy with period punk, Starter for Ten offsets its rite-of-passage clichés with relaxed performances and an extremely likable lead." New York Times
Last modified: 20-Jun-2008 |
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