If the journey is familiar, at least the company is good.
Starter for 10
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United Kingdom, United States · 2006
Rated PG-13 · 1h 32m
Director Tom Vaughan
Starring James McAvoy, Alice Eve, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Tate
Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
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In 1985, against the backdrop of Thatcherism, Brian Jackson enrolls in the University of Bristol, a scholarship boy from seaside Essex with a love of knowledge for its own sake and a childhood spent watching University Challenge, a college quiz show. At Bristol, he tries out for the Challenge team and falls under the spell of Alice, a lovely blond with an extensive sexual past.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
A mildly enjoyable romantic comedy.
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
A surprisingly agile and delightfully warm romantic comedy.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
There's a tidiness and affection to this British homage to John Hughes movies.
A beautifully observed coming-of-age story.
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
McAvoy succeeds in making the boy's mania for trivia endearing rather than annoying. As his (delayed) love interest, Rebecca Hall, playing a campus radical and the first Jewish person he has ever encountered, is stunning.
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
Jolly good show.
The Hollywood Reporter by Richard James Havis
The film successfully replicates the mellow charm of Brit hits "About A Boy" and "Love Actually."
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