This sweet-natured feature debut from Richard Ayoade has been compared to American coming-of-age movies such as Rushmore and The Squid and the Whale, but its influences also feel closer to home. In fact, there's more than a touch of the Adrian Moles about the utterly self-obsessed yet likeable central character of 15-year-old Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts). The film charts Oliver's first love affair and the troubled marriage of his middle-class parents (excellently played by Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor), whose relationship is heading down the tubes owing to the arrival of old flame Graham (Paddy Considine), a mullet-sporting new ager. Ayoade is best known to television audiences as Moss from Channel 4's The IT Crowd and has also directed pop promos for the likes of Arctic Monkeys (the band's Alex Turner contributes five songs to the film's soundtrack). But what's most impressive here is his sure, sympathetic handling of character; he generates a real warmth for Oliver and his travails where a lesser director might have contented themselves with cheap laughs at the love-struck teen's expense.