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Starter for 10

Written Assignment for my english course.

In this review I will give a short description of the main characters Brian, Rebecca and Alice and describe my reception of the films central message. After that, I would like to compare the portrayed university life from 1985 to the current time closing with my personal opinion about the film.

„Starter for 10“ is a romantic comedy centred around Brian Jackson from Essex attending his freshman year at the University of Bristol. Brians motivation for attending the university is his drive for universal knowledge – a trait he developed in his childhood while watching countless shows of “University Challenge” on television with his father.

Being a big fan of said show he enlists at his universities quiz team where he meets Alice the first time. Her intention for being on the team and therefore on national television are quite different – she wants to become a famous actress or newscaster. Alice, being blonde and very smart quickly attracts Brians attention. They quickly develop a little romance. Well, for Brian it’s actually a big romance and he falls in love with Alice who is only in the mood for a flirt.

For the sake of Brian there is also Rebecca, a tall, brunette and Jewish woman spending most of her time organizing protests against nuclear weapons instead of studying. By the last third of the film she comforts Brian on his struggle with Alice hoping that he would recognize her as the better choice.

The finale of the film shows Brians team struggling hard during the quiz show. Brian is dominating with his universal knowledge and is nominated to answers most of the questions. In his frenzy he spills out the answer to a question he has read accidentally before the show directly after the topic has been announced. The team loses instantly and Brian is accused of being a cheater. In his shame he hides at his mothers place for days not talking to his friends. After his mother encourages him with the central line of the film: “Real friends forgive you athe mistakes you made” Brian returns to the university to face his friends, teachers and co-students who he embarrassed. To his surprise he is welcomed there even by his professors. Having had sufficient alone-time to think he also chooses Rebecca over Alice and asks her for her forgiveness for all the mistakes he made – which she willingly gives, of course. This also underlines the central message.

Comparing the university life in 1985 to today is easy: not much has changed. Besides parties and music, there is also studying and making friends. Only the number of topics to protest on seems to have lessened, there are not many topics today which are affecting us directly.

I enjoyed the film although it felt a little lightweight and constructed around the friendship topic. The soundtrack was not very enjoyable to my taste. To sum up, I would rate the move 4 out of 10 points, 10 being the best possible score.