Il quiz dell'amore

"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.

I just seen this film at a surprise screening in Glasgow and I would recommend it to all. For one it features the amazing talents of James macavoy who doesn't disappoint in this slightly coming of age, slightly romance, slightly comedy drama which turns the world of relationships inside education upside down from deep crushes to background influences. The main appeal of this film was its ability to assault the viewer with pieces of hilarious wit that seemingly come from nowhere and features an amazing 80's soundtrack including the cure, undertones and new order. Its main downers however is a host of other actors that don't really get the attention they deserve such as the room mates that seemed to be quite interesting characters and even the female lead was given less of a personality and more of a distant "that girl you view from afar who you may or may not get at the end of the movie" and she wasn't necessarily poorly acted I just felt there could have been more development to her. But other than that the film was filled with witty and somewhat realistic situations that you could compare with to some extent which added to that air of authenticity that the good ol' British movie is good for. 8 stars for acting, writing, great soundtrack and well shot. -2 stars for less character development and being somewhat predictable near the climax.

Starter For Ten (three stars)

Director Tom Vaughan Writer David Nicholls Stars Ian Bonar, Alice Eve, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Tate Certificate 12A Running time 96 minutes Country UK / USA Year 2006

Don't let the pathetically weak opening scene - a flashback of a university applicant as a boy, watching University Challenge and guessing the answers - put you off. Starter For Ten actually manages to get better. Although nominally about qualifying to be on the TV famous game show, the film is really a light-hearted coming-of-age drama set in the 80s. It has convincing performances and a lovingly recreated period of Thatcher Britain, when corduroy was cool and Kate Bush was for intellectuals.

Working class Brian was not born clever - he has to work at it. Gaining entry to a posh university, he meanders through undergraduate days with a classic dilemma: do you fall in love with the intellectually attractive brunette or the blonde goddess? Karl Marx, Freud and John Lennon, like smoking hash and learning how to do blowbacks, are all part of the social landscape of what is trendy and what isn't. Half way in, the film subject matter allows plenty of social commentary on the irksome British class divisions that penetrate romance, friendship and the University Challenge team.

Versatile Catherine Tate puts in an amiable performance as Brian's ever supportive and cooing mother: she's having an affair with the ice-cream van man ("you can hear him coming"). This enjoyable no-brainer of a movie is aided and abetted by a blistering 80s soundtrack with bands such as The Cure, Psychedelic Furs, Buzzcocks, Yazoo, The Smiths, Tears for Fears, The Undertones - and Kate Bush.

Starter for Ten is not searing drama, but it does make a pleasant and worthwhile trip down nostalgia lane. The characters are ones we can love and care about and the movie mostly avoids predictability and cheese. If "the most important questions in life are the ones we already know the answer to," and are not exactly rocket science, the subject matter of Starter For Ten is a welcome and unpretentious antidote to the plethora of similar American teen comedies. If you like the music, it's worth going for that alone.

This film has to be one of my favourites since I was forced to watch it by cultural people. Luckily I was not disappointed.

The general story is of a Brian (McAvoy), an intelligent and clever young man who after going to university in Bristol, joins the University Challenge team. During this time, he falls for an attractive blonde on the team called Alice (Eve) while being completely oblivious to the affections of the beautiful intellectual, Rebecca Epstein (Hall).

The film has a great cast and some good comedy moments. A great cast, and some good dialogue. There's not much else to say about it, but that if you ever feel unhappy and depressed, watch this gem, it will not disappoint in cheering you up.

I can vaguely remember this film getting a roundly solid review from Empire Magazine several years ago before then disappearing never to be seen again in a UK cinema release that was somewhat less than banner. I carried on with my life regardless, move house several times, had a few relationships and then suddenly Starter for Ten popped back up on terrestrial TV this Christmas just gone. I recorded it as I was out but then it sat on my HD for several months before I decided to watch it. Why do I tell you so much of this detail? Well, because it turns out that my approach to the film was more or less what it deserved.

Perhaps that sounds a bit harsh, but what I mean is that this film is certainly not one that is particularly memorable or worth writing home about (I appreciate the irony in me writing that phrase). It isn't bad though because it does have a certain comic charm and ambling curiosity to the story that held my attention. I didn't find myself caring too much about the plot or the characters but I was amused enough to be carried along with it. Amused is the right word though because the film isn't really all that funny in terms of pure laugh-out-loud moments and this, along with not really caring for the characters does contribute to the feeling of not really watching something that is anything other than a bit of light entertainment.

In retrospect, the film will gain from the comparatively rapid rise to fame of McAvoy (who now has the mark of a "star" because he has done the lead in a terrible action movie). He is frighteningly young here but he does manage to deliver a geeky character while also keeping him appealing and engaging. Both Eve and Hall are attractive and likable in their parts; neither has a lot of depth due to the material but they pitch their performances right for the tone of the film. Of no consequence to the enjoyment of the film for most, the casting but lack of use of Elaine Tan was a shame because she is not only stunning but also very, very good at being light and gorgeous (ref 420 Seconds of Love) as was required by the film and perhaps this may have made the film more engaging by having Brian's other relationship also be within the team. Supporting turns from Cumberbatch, Corden, Cooper, Dance etc vary with the material but are mostly good enough for this.

Starter for 10 is aptly named because it is very much a starter rather than a main course (I apologise for the lameness of that sentence but I'll leave it in since I am an amateur). It is light and enjoyable to a certain extent but it is neither funny enough nor engaging enough to really satisfy.