It's a miracle

I can enjoy a movie which is light on story but has well-filled-in characters, or sometimes (though this is more rare for me) vice-versa. David Nicholls' screenplay for Starter For 10 is miraculous. It has neither of those things.

It's well-acted by an attractive cast, but I have rarely disliked more characters in one film. It's like spending an evening stuck in a room with people who aren't as delightful and clever as they think they are.

The one exception was the politically-conscious love interest of the lead character.
Actress Rebecca Hall, whose face is new to me (she's the brunette above), manages to hint at wisdom beyond her character's years, but the story forces her into a stale romantic role.

One of the things I really want to believe the romantic relationships in my stories do is give audiences some reasons why the people in them love each other.

Starter For 10 is the story of an English "working class University student with something to prove," and is as predictable at that implies. There was scarcely a moment, a beat, a second that I didn't see coming.

Well, I tell a lie-there was one, but it only had the effect of confirming for me what a complete and utter prat the nominal lead character was.