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88Despite its awkward title, Starter for 10 is a winning coming-of-age tale told with grace and charm.
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83A beautifully observed coming-of-age story.
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80A surprisingly agile and delightfully warm romantic comedy.
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75Jolly good show.
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75Starter for 10 is cute and smart, just like its star triangle, and it's also well-written, acted and directed.
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75Shifting the self-deprecating japery of "High Fidelity" from a record store to a quiz show makes Starter for 10 a sweetly endearing date movie.
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75McAvoy is charismatic, funny, and on the mark. Hall and Eve are both just right in their roles - bringing depth and detail to what could have been caricature parts. And if Starter for 10 takes a turn into foolhardy tragedy, it doesn't linger too long there.
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75Some nice performances and modest laughs highlight this amiable British comedy.
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75While at times overly familiar, the film never feels self-mocking.
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75There's a tidiness and affection to this British homage to John Hughes movies.
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75McAvoy succeeds in making the boy's mania for trivia endearing rather than annoying. As his (delayed) love interest, Rebecca Hall, playing a campus radical and the first Jewish person he has ever encountered, is stunning.
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75If you're inclined toward women of the smart/sly variety, you'll leave with a massive crush on Hall. You might remember her as Christian Bale's long-suffering wife in "The Prestige." Here, she comes off as a sort of college-aged, raven-tressed, human rights-obsessed Emma Thompson, only cooler.
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75The joy is in watching a talented cast make something crisp and fresh out of material that -- though perfectly adequate and enjoyable -- trespasses little into territory that's new or out of the traditionally plotted points of the genre.
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The result is something altogether more formulaic, but Starter for 10 nonetheless goes down easy, thanks in large part to the up-and-coming talent from across the pond and a steady infusion of the Cure, Wham!, and Tears for Fears on the soundtrack.
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70Starter for Ten offsets its rite-of-passage clichés with relaxed performances and an extremely likable lead.
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70McAvoy, so memorable as Idi Amin's doctor turned adviser in last year's "The Last King of Scotland," may be the most likable British newcomer since Ewan McGregor; his glistening eyes can seduce audiences with their ability to show conflicting emotions.
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67For the most part, it's all fairly predictable material, although McAvoy and his costars invest the movie with dynamic performances that manage to keep the story's characters just this side of stereotype and mediocrity.
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63This is cheeky sitcom in a minor key, and fated to be a mere footnote on McAvoy's resume.
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63It's all breezy and predictable.
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63A mildly enjoyable romantic comedy.
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60The film successfully replicates the mellow charm of Brit hits "About A Boy" and "Love Actually."
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If the journey is familiar, at least the company is good.
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60Showcasing the considerable talents of ubiquitous thesp James McAvoy ("The Last King of Scotland," "Penelope") and several other up-and-coming Brit actors, picture garnishes fairly standard college-set plot with wit, warmth and unexpected turns.
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60The main novelty of this conventional, slight, but charming youth picture is that it's English and therefore more class-conscious than most American equivalents.
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50Your basic and basically predictable by-the-numbers picture.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 3 out of 4
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Mixed: 0 out of 4
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Negative: 1 out of 4
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JayH7
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TeriZ.10This is a gem of a movie. James McAvoy is amazing!
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GregoryL.10