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Bright spark hits buzzer in Brit-flick rom-com
Starter For Ten
Directed by Tom Vaughn
Certificate PG
THIS has the elements for a successful rom-com Brit-flick, one which will please British audiences with its easily recognisable social observations, and could take its star, James McAvoy, along the same route as Hugh Grant in the US.
Featuring a well-honed cast and a fun little plot, Starter has enough twists and turns to have you and your date clenching hands instead of holding them as you hope for a happy outcome.
James McAvoy is beginning to make waves. He is studious and geeky when needed to be, and holds the attention brilliantly as the lead.
You find yourself caring about what happens to him, and commiserating as he learns some itchy lessons about life and love.
Brian (McAvoy) is an Essex lad who wins a place at Bristol University. He is a bright spark and one of his ambitions is to go on the television quiz programme University Challenge to exercise his considerable store of general knowledge.
But university has so many distractions, and although he gets himself on the team, he finds himself falling for the ever-so-well spoken Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) and the attractive-but-don’t-she-know-it Alice Harbinson (Alice Eve).
But the biggest tutorial Brian has to take is that the British class system is alive and painfully kicking anyone who tries to rise above their station.
And just as the Young Ones discovered, part of the appeal of University Challenge is not the quirky presentation skills of Bamber Gascoigne – played believably here by Mark Gatiss from League of Gentlemen fame – but the different backgrounds of the students.
This is no Notting Hill-style tale with a lovely, and slightly forlorn, English guy searching for the right one – it has more oomph than that.
Throw in a recognisable soundtrack of 1980s hits and some dodgy legwarmer moments, and the social comment comes over with an entertaining background to play out on.
Granada TV, the original producers of University Challenge, helped with a section of the film featuring their hit quiz show and it gives the film a sense of realism which makes the outcome even funnier. |
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