I could end the review right there and you will have everything you need to know. McAvoy, coming off the brilliant 'The Last King of Scotland', dons a British accent (flawlessly I might add) and brings much of the same nice guy naivete that got him in trouble with Idi Amin. Brian is the ultra smart repository of trivial information, but for all of his knowledge, he hasn't got a clue, especially when it comes to women. I like Brian, it's hard not to, especially when you see so many parallels to one's own life. Leave it to a pretty girl to bat her eyelashes and suddenly, all the brains in the world won't account for a damn thing.

    This being a romantic comedy with a male protagonist, we of course need two females for him to choose from. Naturally, as is the nature with 18 year old boys, he goes for "the hotness", Alice, a blonde...well, socialite whose previous dating experience all involved rich, foreign and generally, the criminal mind. To his other side is Rebecca, the complete opposite, but still stereotypical Left leaning revolutionary, who will take up any cause as long as it sticks something to "the man".

    You know Brian and Rebecca will get together. That's not a spoiler warning, but their relationship feels a bit underdeveloped. They have hints of chemistry between each other, but that has more to do with a) our expectations and b) the catchy 80s soundtrack (it takes place in 1985). Both McAvoy and Hall handle their characters with aplomb, with McAvoy even bringing to the screen some real development and motivation. Rebecca's only development is that at first she thinks Brian is an incompetent twit and then can accept him as such. Hall

    Alice Eve plays the entitled princess with the correct amount of brains (she's on the trivia team, too) and sultriness. She knows she's beautiful and, given society, knows she can exploit that as her most precious resource. Beyond that, she is not called on to do more than to be pretty, and rather immature.

    Brian has to deal with both these women while also competing in the trivia challenge, which is sadly as predictable as the rest of the film. The man needs to be shamed somehow, and naturally, it occurs in the place with all the cameras.

    Yet, despite all of the stereotyping going on, or perhaps because of it, 'Starter For 10' is still a pleasant diversion. It's the safest of films, a prefabricated little slice of comedy that delivers what it sets out to do with characters you know intimately, even if you don't them intimately. It's perfect for a first date, or any date for that matter. You'll chuckle at some of that cheeky British humor, which it has some doozies, and be moved by the swelling music, and forget it when you go back to your place for a make-out session.

    There will be better this year, but there will certainly be worse, too. It falls into that fate-worse-than-death category of simply being a "nice" movie. And nobody likes 'nice'. Nice guys, nice movies, 'nice' as a compliment. It's just so very...nice. And what the hell is that anyway?

makes the most of her two dimensional character, but in the end, the writer fails her, as we are given little else to know about her beyond her activism.