Starter for 10

aka: Starter for Ten
UK 2006, 96 minutes
Dir. Tom Vaughan
Rating: [M]
Genres: Comedy / Romance, Youth

Topics: Period 1980s, Rites-of-passage.

Feat. James McAvoy, Rebecca Hall, Alice Eve, Catherine Tate, Mark Gatiss, James Corden, Charles Dance

Aroview: Cute but formulaic youthful rom-com set in Thatcher's Britain, with the boyishly handsome James McAvoy as a working-class (yeah, right) upstart who gains acceptance into a posh university and onto the team of TV gameshow "University Challenge".

Stripping John Hughes' (American!) teen comedy rule book, the cliches (young man falls for the blonde but can't see his suitability for his brunette buddy) will be tolerated by a narrow demographic of young romantics, but no amount of 80's 'new wave' on the soundtrack will fool those looking for a dose of nostalgia. Comedienne Catherine Tate is amusing as usual, even in a 'straight' role.