I would not recommend D&D 4th edition to anyone, especially starting players. It has some appeal and some people do like it, but you need pretty specific tastes or a strong background in D&D.
It's been a long time since I've heard so many people vent their frustrations over a specific game, and most of those complainers were very excited at the start.
It's an especially bad sign that I know a ton of people who have grown to hate it more the more they play it. My group was for example like this. It became so bad that it was either change the system mid-campaign or end the campaign alltogether.
D&D 3.5 on the other hand is one of the better systems I've ever played with. (It does bog down badly after the 12th level and falls apart once you start reaching 14th-15th level. But from character levels 2-10 it's just great fun.)
Pathfinder I've never tried but heard nothing but good about it really.
And Paranoia is a true classic
