Film

Starter for 10

A 1985 coming-of-age rom-com about a working-class quiz-show obsessive navigating university life, intellectual pretension, and romantic confusion. It's warm, funny, and genuinely affectionate about its characters' earnestness without mocking them. For anyone who loved the social awkwardness of *The IT Crowd* or the romantic fumbling of early *Notting Hill*.

TMDb rating3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like British coming-of-age romance with a sharp, wistful eye for class snobbery and the awkward ache of a first university term, where the quiz-show trivia becomes a lovely running bit.

Skip it if you want a fast, gag-driven comedy, since this is gentle and often melancholy, and its romantic pull can feel overly dreamy about a charming but unreliable hero.

What it asks of you: Ninety-six minutes, unhurried and talky, with long stretches of conversation and small humiliations that land quietly; it rewards patience more than it rewards laughs on demand.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The IT Crowd2006

Shares Starter for 10's gift for comedy drawn from clever people being socially hopeless. The embarrassment humour lands because you like them, not despite it.

But Relies heavily on repeating catchphrases and the same joke structure across episodes. Can feel repetitive if you're not already invested.

The IT Crowd poster

About a Boy2002

Both films find genuine warmth in the gap between how people present themselves and who they actually are. Same bittersweet romantic tone, same affection for misfits.

But Hasn't aged as gracefully in its gender politics. Some elements feel very early-2000s in ways that will date you immediately.

About a Boy poster

Rushmore1998

Jason Schwartzman's over-committed, ambitious, slightly delusional energy mirrors James McAvoy's Brian perfectly. Same love of clever people sabotaging themselves romantically.

But Wes Anderson's aesthetic is very specific and airless—if it doesn't click immediately, watching it feels like obligation rather than pleasure.

Rushmore poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Starter for 10

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Gimme Shelter1970

Both are about young people at a pivotal moment discovering that intelligence and good intentions cannot insulate you from genuine harm. Brian's romantic heartbreak echoes that larger cultural disillusionment.

Documentary of the Rolling Stones at Altamont, December 1969—the moment rock and roll's promise shattered into violence. A masterpiece about idealism meeting reality, stripped entirely of sentiment. Watch two brilliant young men discover the world is far darker than they believed.

But It's a documentary from 1970 in grainy film. The pacing is glacial by modern standards and it asks you to sit with dread rather than resolve it.

Gimme Shelter poster
More like this (8)

Four Rooms1995

Same ensemble cast energy and that particular '90s charm of young actors playing slightly clueless. Fast, funny, and committed to its own small chaos.

But It's extremely silly in a way that demands you meet it halfway. If you want grounded storytelling, this will feel frivolous.

Four Rooms poster

The History Boys2006

Also set in English education, also full of clever young men performing intelligence while being emotionally lost. Alan Bennett's wit is sharper but the DNA is identical.

But Considerably darker in its final act. Tonal shift away from comedy into something much heavier may feel abrupt.

The History Boys poster

Notting Hill1999

Same era, same bumbling-British-man-meets-impossible-woman template. If you enjoyed the romantic tension between Brian and Alice, this delivers more of that exact feeling.

But Suffers from 'very 1999'—the jokes feel safer and the romance glossier. Less sharp than Starter for 10's willingness to let people be genuinely flawed.

Notting Hill poster

The Death of Stalin2017

Offers that same kind of intellectual comedy where characters talk brilliantly at cross-purposes. British ensemble cast doing character work under time pressure.

But Black-and-white cinematography and Russian politics offer a completely different world. Considerably darker and more ambitious in scope.

The Death of Stalin poster

Love Actually2003

Shares the ensemble rom-com structure and that British character-actor warmth. Multiple overlapping romantic storylines with genuine affection underneath the chaos.

But Wildly uneven quality across its storylines. Some plots are delightful; others feel actively uncomfortable by today's standards.

Love Actually poster

St Trinian's2007

Similar era-specific charm and cast ensemble energy. School setting with that same slightly anarchic, affectionate tone toward institutions and ambition.

But Skews considerably younger and sillier. If you're watching for emotional weight, this will feel like candy-colored fluff.

St Trinian's poster

Sentimental Education1962

Both use university-age characters as vessels for asking: what do you actually want versus what were you taught to want? Same fundamental question, completely inverted gender perspective.

Agnès Varda's luminous exploration of three women navigating careers, love, and self-knowledge in contemporary Paris. If Starter for 10 is about a man discovering the world, this is about women refusing to be discovered by men's narratives.

But French New Wave pacing—long, digressive, sometimes plotless. Subtitled, and it requires patience with ambiguity rather than resolution.

Sentimental Education poster

Memories of Murder2003

Brian is a scholarship boy discovering that the rules he learned don't apply. This film asks: what happens when that discovery is life-or-death instead of romantic? Same theme, raised to tragedy.

A masterwork about a young detective trying to solve murders in 1980s South Korea under brutal authoritarianism. Captures that exact moment when a young, idealistic person realizes intelligence cannot save you from systems designed to crush you.

But It's a serial-killer film that's genuinely disturbing. Tonally dark throughout, structurally unconventional, and it ends with a refusal to comfort. Not a night out—a gut-punch you'll feel for weeks.

Memories of Murder poster

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Recommended by

Tamara Drewe, Lead Balloon, Dare