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Starter for 10 (2006)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
9 March 2007 (USA)
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Plot:
Set in 1985, working-class student Brian Jackson (McAvoy) navigates his first year at Bristol University. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
University
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Politics
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Thatcherism
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Love
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Team
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Awards:
1 win
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3 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(17 articles)
'One Day' Comes Soon For Scherfig
(From EmpireOnline. 8 December 2009, 7:47 AM, PST)
Exclusive Interview: Jon Harris
(From HeyUGuys. 29 November 2009, 6:48 PM, PST)
(From EmpireOnline. 8 December 2009, 7:47 AM, PST)
Exclusive Interview: Jon Harris
(From HeyUGuys. 29 November 2009, 6:48 PM, PST)
User Comments:
Entertaining no-brainer
more (55 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Joseph Friend | ... | Young Brian | |
| James Gaddas | ... | Martin Jackson | |
| Catherine Tate | ... | Julie Jackson | |
| Mark Gatiss | ... | Bamber Gascoigne | |
| Robert Cawsey | ... | University Challenge Competitor | |
| Rasmus Hardiker | ... | University Challenge Competitor | |
| Guy Henry | ... | Dr. Morrison | |
| James McAvoy | ... | Brian Jackson | |
| James Corden | ... | Tone | |
| Dominic Cooper | ... | Spencer | |
| Simon Woods | ... | Josh | |
| Sule Rimi | ... | Marcus | |
| Joe Van Moyland | ... | Hippy at the Party | |
| Rebecca Hall | ... | Rebecca Epstein | |
| Benedict Cumberbatch | ... | Patrick Watts |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Starter for Ten (UK) (alternative spelling)
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MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and a scene of drug use.
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
92 min
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Filming Locations:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Goofs:
Continuity: Before recording starts on University Challenge, there is a shot of a monitor focused on Bamber Gascoigne. The scoreboard next to him shows the final score.
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Quotes:
Brian Jackson:
Got an announcement to make. I'm gonna be on University Challenge.
Julie Jackson: What a relief. I thought you were gonna say you were gay.
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Julie Jackson: What a relief. I thought you were gonna say you were gay.
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Movie Connections:
Featured in "HBO First Look: Starter for 10 (#14.5)" (2007)
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Soundtrack:
Pictures of You
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FAQ
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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.