Starter for Ten (2006)
Country: GB/US
Technical: DeLuxe 97m
Director: Tom Vaughan
Cast: James McAvoy, Alice Eve, Rebecca Hall, Dominic Cooper
Synopsis:
A boy from Southend who has always pursued knowledge for its own sake secures a place at Bristol University and begins the long journey of life by falling in love with the wrong girl and getting on the team for University Challenge.
Review:
Like many coming of age films this has the familiar contrivances, not least the rather single-minded race for the clinch at the end which sweeps aside the minor character of Alice as if she didn't matter at all; and anyway when did he fall in love with her? We missed that bit. But being British it is reasonably fresh and believeable on the acting front, and there are funny moments amongst all the wincingly embarrassing ones. The home life scenes are rather better caught than the university world, which tends towards caricature (trendy protester, stoned world traveller, pompous post-grad student, etc.). The underlying message would seem to be that knowledge is of little value without wisdom, but the clunky mechanics of the screenplay leave one ill-disposed to search for hidden meanings.
Country: GB/US
Technical: DeLuxe 97m
Director: Tom Vaughan
Cast: James McAvoy, Alice Eve, Rebecca Hall, Dominic Cooper
Synopsis:
A boy from Southend who has always pursued knowledge for its own sake secures a place at Bristol University and begins the long journey of life by falling in love with the wrong girl and getting on the team for University Challenge.
Review:
Like many coming of age films this has the familiar contrivances, not least the rather single-minded race for the clinch at the end which sweeps aside the minor character of Alice as if she didn't matter at all; and anyway when did he fall in love with her? We missed that bit. But being British it is reasonably fresh and believeable on the acting front, and there are funny moments amongst all the wincingly embarrassing ones. The home life scenes are rather better caught than the university world, which tends towards caricature (trendy protester, stoned world traveller, pompous post-grad student, etc.). The underlying message would seem to be that knowledge is of little value without wisdom, but the clunky mechanics of the screenplay leave one ill-disposed to search for hidden meanings.
Country: GB/US
Technical: DeLuxe 97m
Director: Tom Vaughan
Cast: James McAvoy, Alice Eve, Rebecca Hall, Dominic Cooper
Synopsis:
A boy from Southend who has always pursued knowledge for its own sake secures a place at Bristol University and begins the long journey of life by falling in love with the wrong girl and getting on the team for University Challenge.
Review:
Like many coming of age films this has the familiar contrivances, not least the rather single-minded race for the clinch at the end which sweeps aside the minor character of Alice as if she didn't matter at all; and anyway when did he fall in love with her? We missed that bit. But being British it is reasonably fresh and believeable on the acting front, and there are funny moments amongst all the wincingly embarrassing ones. The home life scenes are rather better caught than the university world, which tends towards caricature (trendy protester, stoned world traveller, pompous post-grad student, etc.). The underlying message would seem to be that knowledge is of little value without wisdom, but the clunky mechanics of the screenplay leave one ill-disposed to search for hidden meanings.