Starter for 10
by Tom Vaughan
List Price:
Our Price: $3.70
You Save: $6.27 (63%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.05 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alice Eve, James McAvoy, Mark Gatiss, Rebecca Hall, Robert CawseyDirector: Tom Vaughan
Brand: HBO Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-07-31
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 94219
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Movie Reviews of Starter for 10
Movie Review: Great `80's Soundtrack And A Classy Re-Telling Of David Nicholls' Excellent Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
This stylish and funny film does justice to David Nicholls' embraceably likable novel of the same name. (Though also released in the United States as A Question of Attraction.) Here James McAvoy plays Brian Jackson, a charmingly fallible young Englishman of working class origins who goes off to college in Bristol in the year 1985, and soon joins his school's quiz team, which is preparing to compete on the televised student game show, University Challenge. As he endures the usual first-year agonies and invents a few for himself, the trivia expert Jackson falls madly in love with the team's reigning beauty, the slightly conscienceless Alice Harbinson (an annoying but eye-catching Alice Eve) and meanwhile misses the obvious fact that he's much better suited for another girl, Rebecca Epstein, one of the campus' ever-protesting social leftists. The ups and downs of Brian's first year on campus, the pains of his growing up and moving apart from the life and people he'd always known, and the extent to which his driven involvement with the quiz team and its members (including a smug, victory obsessed captain) takes over his life make up the backbone of this coming of age love story. The soundtrack is almost a star in its own right, and features songs by The Cure, the Psychedelic Furs, The Smiths and other memorable eighties bands. Starter For Ten is such a fun, touching, likable presentation that I've reviewed it in three of its different incarnations here on Amazon (both the US and original release, plus now the film version) and in fact the very first Amazon review I ever did was for this novel. It's one of the best debut books I've come across in a long while, and the makers of this movie got darn near everything right. It's definitely worth seeing and worth buying!
Summary of Starter for 10
STARTER FOR 10 - DVD MovieCompared to James McAvoy's previous picture, The Last King of Scotland, this British comedy may seem trivial, but trivia has its pleasures. Produced by Tom Hanks and adapted by David Nicholls from his 2003 novel, Starter for Ten doesn't tackle major historical events, but it also takes place in the past. After a prologue establishing his childhood in provincial Essex, Brian (McAvoy) takes off for Bristol University in 1985 and immediately sets his sights on the campus quiz team. If he makes the cut, he'll get to compete on University Challenge, a show he used to watch the show with his late father, who encouraged his son's quest for knowledge. For all his book smarts, though, Brian is rather naïve about the ways of the world, unlike his friend Spencer (Dominic Cooper, The History Boys), who remains in town. As Brian and his teammates prepare for the competition, he falls for co-eds Alice (Alice Eve) and Rebecca (Rebecca Hall, The Prestige), struggles to repair his fraying friendship with Spencer, and confronts feelings of betrayal over his mother's new boyfriend. For the most part, Starter for Ten explores standard-issue college concerns, but with abundant wit, whimsy, and a soundtrack stuffed with Thatcher-era favorites, like the Smiths and New Order. While the resolution to Brian's romantic dilemma hardly comes as a surprise, the climactic quiz show is a nail-biter. Mostly, the film is a fine showcase for the multi-talented McAvoy, who confirms that he can handle light comedy as gracefully as dark drama. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Similar DVD Movies
Big NothingFirst Look Pictures; Release date: 2007-06-19; DVD
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
The Last King of Scotland (Widescreen Edition)Fox; Release date: 2007-04-17; Published: 2007-04-01; DVD
Best price: $4.46
Price in other shops:
Becoming JaneRelease date: 2011-04-05; DVD
Best price: $2.71
Price in other shops:
Frank Herbert's Children of Dune: Sci-Fi TV Miniseries (Two-Disc DVD Set)LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2003-05-20; Published: 2003-05-01; DVD
Best price: $5.97
Price in other shops:
State of PlayWHV; Release date: 2008-02-26; DVD
Best price: $17.98
Price in other shops:
The Last StationSony; Release date: 2010-06-22; DVD
Best price: $8.95
Price in other shops:
Rory O'Shea Was HereNBC Universal; Release date: 2005-06-14; DVD
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Shameless: The Complete First SeasonWarner Home Video; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $17.98
Price in other shops:
Atonement (Widescreen Edition)Universal Studios; Release date: 2008-03-18; DVD
Best price: $3.01
Price in other shops:
PenelopeRICCI,CHRISTINA; Release date: 2008-07-15; Published: 2008-07-01; DVD
Best price: $6.24
Price in other shops: