Funny this review;
it’s taken me ages to write it, and I have no idea why. Nothing could be
more cut and dried than this twee British rom-com. Our hero, one Brian
Jackson (James McAvoy), an earnest, working-class Essex boy, leaves the
warmth of his loving, supportive family to enter into university, circa
1985. Aspirations of academic excellence aren’t enough for ambitious
Brian, though. No, Ma’am, he’s got bigger fish to fry. The largest
haddock being his dream of being on University Challenge, Britain’s
classic and eternally-aired quiz show that pits two opposing school
against each other in a contest of superior intellect. (The closest
thing to it on American shores is Jeopardy, but, I would have to qualify
that statement by the inclusion of Alex Trebek. I’m really sure that
University Challenge doesn’t suffer from having at least one question
about Canada per show and another question that includes a phlegmatic mangling of
the French language on every …single…show {Well, that saves me having
to write about Jeopardy in TV Addict, dunnit?}.)
Whilst in his new
role as University of Brighton student, Brian learns all sorts of
lifey-type lessons. Will he turn into the “poncey wanker” his mates back
in Essex are so sure he will? Will Brian stop playing out of his league
with the posh, gorgeous Alice (Alice Eve), to ever recognize the true
inner beauty of the smart, socially conscious Rebecca (Rebecca Hall –
they didn’t much struggle over character names here, did they?)?
Most important of all, will Brian ever get his chance to show the world
all he knows on University Challenge?
Well, my dears,
the answers to these questions and a couple others, could not be more
obvious or predictable. Starter for 10 is no exercise in brain activity.
It is pat and cliché from beginning to end. Yet, I do not necessarily
hold that against the film. (I’ll get to what I do hold against it in a
hot second) Starter for 10 has the almost magical quality of employing a
cast so endearing and adorable that I could not hate this movie. Truly,
I have yet to see a film that I thought was so mediocre be lifted out of
my disdain simply because I thought the leads were cute as bunnies.
Alice Eve and Rebecca Hall somehow managed to take characters that would
otherwise be completely one-dimensional and they infuse them with charm,
life, and sympathy.
The intriguingly named Benedict Cumberbatch is the
comic relief of the piece, playing the Brighton team’s University
Challenge captain, Patrick. Patrick has played University Challenge
before and lost spectacularly. He shares videotaped moments of his
traumatic defeat with his new teammates and bristles at the notion that
he shouldn’t be captain simply because he lost. His overzealous devotion
to leading his team to unqualified victory are broad and slapstick and
ofttimes the only shot of adrenaline in the film. (Outside perhaps of an
odd nude scene between Charles Dance and Rome’s Lindsay Duncan in
an extended cameo as Alice’s liberal parents – I always liked Atia
better).
And then there’s
McAvoy … ah, McAvoy … Part of me wishes Starter for 10 was a more
splashy affair like its gaudy cousin, “Four Weddings and a Funeral in
Notting Hill, where Bridget Jones found Love, Actually”, whom it vaguely
resembles, in a lower-budget-less-American-Actors, squinty way. The
other part is quite glad that it’s more earnest and less “Wow, aren’t
British people quaint?” than that. But I can’t stop myself from making
unfortunate comparisons. I left Starter for 10 thinking, “That James
McAvoy is the thinking girls (or boy’s) Hugh Grant”, which is an insult
to McAvoy, because this kid’s a keeper. No hate for H.G, but McAvoy,
while bearing some of the awkward romance of Grant’s puppy-like
characters in the R. Curtis films, has none of the affectedness of
Grant’s lean-to’s; the floppy hair, the eyes that blink so furiously you
think he’s about to have a seizure, the nerdy stuttering. Nah, McAvoy
does adorable without seeming the least bit contrived. Maybe it’s early
days yet, but I see big things for this guy (And I’m not just saying
that cos I’ve finally seen Last King of Scotland!). Brian’s struggle
for his place in the scheme of Uni life and a life of his own are very
touching. Brian’s a decent bloke but when he messes up, he does so
stupendously with all the horror of social and moral gaffes reflected in
the eyes of the freshman. McAvoy truly fleshes Brian out. There’s a
great moment during his first date with Alice where she asks Brian about
the death of his beloved and supportive father. McAvoy puts such heart
into this scene that you wonder if anyone had ever simply asked Brian
how he felt about his dad dying before, and it’s one of the little
moments that lifts Starter for 10 above a Lifetime Movie of the Week, UK
edition.
Now let me get off
my trunk some of my serious irks with the film. I realize that some
folks watching this movie are not music aficionados. I’m told that some
of the audience, and indeed the majority of the cast, were not even old
enough to recall the 80’s. Bearing all that in mind, I couldn’t help but
be distracted by the serious lack of chronology in some of the music
choices. Nitpicky I know, but 80’s music is a big thing to us get-gown
deities. Clearly, those behind the production had a serious Jones for The
Cure. Robert Smith’s caterwauling can be endured throughout the movie,
and while I was always more in the Japan/Duran Duran/Wham camp (NPI), I
can appreciate that Brian’s inner turmoil would be reflected by college
mope-rock favourites like the Cure and Tears for Fears (lovely use of
The Hurting, BTW), but I found that many of the Cure songs were either
just barely on the cusp of 1985, or well and truly after (Pictures of
You was a very popular prom song in 1989, or so I am told). Which leads
nicely into my other gripe, I know the producers probably didn’t want a
1980’s costume party, but almost nobody really looked all that 80’s to
my all-seeing eyes. There is one moment where you’ve got Alice Eve done
up a-la-Pat Benatar, then later working an extremely mauve gown that
looks like it fell off the Dynasty wardrobe cart. And Rebecca’s
drainpipe black jeans and black Converse Ones clearly identify her as
Protest Girl, but outside of those few exceptions, nobody else looked
all that 80’s to me. Where was the Day-Glo? Where were the rubber
bracelets and crucifixes? What the hell does Frankie Say? Why did no man
sport a single mullet (There is a pale attempt on McAvoy’s head that
seems like the stylist copped out at the last second before the final
snip)? Britain being so at the forefront of 80’s culture and fashion,
why set the movie in 1985, when you can’t tell it is? Okay, rant over.
Anyway, back on
the positive. Starter for 10 is a sweet little movie, an absolute
bon-bon. It’s not going to change the world or inspire great thought,
but there are worse ways to spend an hour and a half than watching these
up and coming new stars in a perfectly agreeable film. It should been
out in time for Valentine’s Day because, it’s a great date flick;
trouble is, your date is probably going to run out on you once the
movie’s over and fly to Scotland to track down James McAvoy.
Mighty Ganesha
~ March 4th,
2007
TheDivaReview.com
