3. Starter For 10
It’s 1985 and working class Essex lad, Brian Jackson (James McAvoy) gets offered a place at Bristol University. With a certain knack for remembering facts and a love of quiz shows cultivated by his father from an early age, upon his arrival in Bristol, Jackson tries out for the University Challenge team. As would be expected from a film following the life of a University student, there’s heartbreak, drama, nightmarish housemates and a whole lot of alcohol involved.
McAvoy’s supporting characters include Benedict Cumberbatch as the real jobs-worth head of the quiz team; James Cordon and Dominic Cooper as his small-town mates from home; Catherine Tate as a fussing mother; Mark Gatiss as the quiz master of the panel show, as well as Alice Eve and Rebecca Hall playing the film’s leading ladies. There are plenty of foot-in-mouth moments for you to laugh at, opportunities for you to test your own general knowledge and a sense of realism rarely found in rom coms these days.
Starter For 10 is the perfect choice of film for anyone who has recently finished exams and is now nervously awaiting A Level results which will determine their own place at university come September.
Words by Beth Kirkbride