Brian Jackson, a first-generation university student in 1980s Bristol, is a hateful empathy suck. Everything he does is stupid and some of it is dishonorable, but you suffer heartburn whenever Brian (played by James McAvoy, whose sparsely haired faun in The Chronicles of Narnia still keeps me up at night) gets caught. McAvoy, along with Benedict Cumberbatch (quickly becoming my favorite Brit character actor) as a weird, horsy knowledge-bowl addict, makes Starter for Ten unpredictable and almost interesting.
In other respects, the film follows the coming-of-age formula to the letter. Brian, a fatherless overachiever, leaves home for college; his working-class mother (Catherine Tate) and layabout friends (Dominic Cooper and James Corden from The History Boys) feel abandoned. Once Brian arrives at the second-tier Bristol University, he meets a cute girl (she's Jewish!), then yet another cute girl (she's blond and rich and on the quiz team!). Ridiculous romance alternates with ridiculous quiz-team politics, and in both categories, he repeatedly embarrasses himself. One incident involves marijuana, another involves cheating, but all are crushing reminders of his lower-class origins.
These movies are built to let audiences imbibe their own nostalgia, which can be conveniently piped in through the speakers. The soundtrack for Starter for Ten features a string of new wave hits: lots of the Cure, one each from the Smiths and New Order, a pair by Tears for Fears. Then, to prevent you from turning into a puddle, there's always a humiliating incident reminding you why you're happy to have escaped to adulthood. In Starter for Ten, the nostalgia pours in, hot and frantic, but the humiliation (which is all class shame) is almost too thorough. The pop starts to sound tinny and slack. It's an intriguing approachâas long as you're a Brit or a masochist.
