Starter for 10

Starring: Alice Eve, Rebecca Hall, James McAvoy, Charles Dance, Benedict Cumberbatch

Directed by: Tom Vaughan

RS: 3of 4 Stars

2007 Picturehouse All Movies

Don't mind the featherweight plot. A cheeky comedy with sex and smarts earns a passing grade. James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland) is a live wire as Brian, a working-class lad who leaves his Essex mates (Dominic Cooper and James Corden) to join the snobs at Bristol University. The year is 1985, when University Challenge (a TV quiz show modeled on College Bowl) lets Brian show off his knowledge, impress a hot blonde (Alice Eve) and lose his heart to a firebrand (enchantress Rebecca Hall, a true find of an actress). All the actors are spot on, with special shout-outs to Catherine Tate as Brian's widowed mum and Benedict Cumberbatch as the hilariously pompous captain of the Bristol TV team. Tom Hanks, whose company produced, also deserves high marks for allowing writer David Nicholls, who adapted his own novel, and director Tom Vaughan, both Bristol alums, to stay true to their class-conscious British roots. Jolly good show.