Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Synopsis:

“Starter for 10” is based on a book by David Nicholls which follows a young man (Brian Jackson, portrayed by James McAvoy) from the wrong-side-of-the-tracks (on, in this particular case, a somewhat dodgy part of Essex) who gets a scholarship to Bristol University. It has always been his dream to compete on University Challenge (a nationally broadcast quiz show). He auditions for the team, and though he is initially merely first reserve, he eventually is allowed on the team, falls for the team beauty Alice (who is only competing to get television exposure)… ignoring what seems an obvious attraction friendship with his friend Rebecca.

The Facts:

Length: 1 hour and 36 minutes
Released: 2007
Main Actors: James McAvoy, Rebecca Hall
Director: Tom Vaughan

My Thoughts:

“Starter for 10” is predictable, cutesy, and though its main actors struggle valiantly to infuse their characters with wit and charm, in the end, the project ends up feeling a little flat…

The main idea is a poor boy comes to a big, elitist university. He makes becomes friends with the woman we can easily see is destined to be his girlfriend, and makes mistakes while pursuing the beauty who is obviously the wrong gal for him. There are obvious class jokes/ barriers along the way, including tension when his widowed mother takes up with the local ice cream truck driver, when the elitist University Challenge team captain proclaims, “You can take the boy out of Essex, but you can’t take Essex out of the boy” and when Brian visits his love interest’s (the wrong girl’s home of course) country cottage only to have an awkward, almost-Mrs. Robinson/ The Graduate moment, with her mother. He kisses Rebecca while still daydreaming about Alice, etc.

It’s “Some Kind of Wonderful” without the fun 80’s soundtrack… and with more clichés…

It’s “Good Will Hunting” only instead of Robin Williams as the guide, you have a well-intentioned literature professor who shows up so briefly you almost forget his existence… and instead of Ben Affleck and a car-full of buddies from the good ol’ days, you have Spencer, a smart guy who’s just not as book smart as Brian…

The best thing that can be said about this film is that both it and the actors involved tried… There are genuinely funny moments (after Brian makes his most critical – and very public -- error, he is driven away in his mother’s new boyfriend’s ice cream truck, complete with familiar ice-cream-truck music and all that entails)… but no surprises, just cliché after cliché of a small-town boy making predictable errors in his “growing-up-process” leading to the foregone happy ending. The movie is harmless… but utterly forgettable. It tries for some touching moments (we are told, for example, that part of the reason Brian wants to be on the team is because watching University Challenge on television was one of the few things he and his father bonded over) but it’s just too predictable to hold your interest, too bland to be truly entertaining.


Recommended: No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older