Joue-la comme Beckham

Parminder Nagra wants to "Bend it Like Beckham" in this 2002 film also starring Keira Knightley and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Set it England, Nagra is Jesminder, nicknamed "Jess" who loves to play soccer and is recruited into a women's team by a fellow player Jules (Keira Knightley). There, she meets the team's coach, Joe (Rhys-Meyers) on whom Jules has a crush.

But playing soccer is at odds with Jesminder's traditional Indian family, so she is constantly lying and sneaking out of the house. Joe encourages her to live her own dream, but it's hard for Jesminder to break away from what her family expects. And with her sister about to get married, she's expected to help out. When her sister's wedding falls on the day of their big tournament where a talent scout from America will be present, Jess is forced to make a decision.

This is a really lovely film with many warm and funny moments and situations. The beautiful Nagra, who was so good on "ER" is sympathetic as Jess, with Keira Knightley a feisty Jules. At one point, Jules' mother believes that Jules and Jess are lovers. A very funny performance by Juliet Stevenson as Jules' mother.

"Bend it Like Beckham" covers a lot of ground - compromising your dreams, going after your dreams, prejudice, looking butch, and the perception of women in Indian vs. modern culture. In the end, it's really a story of finding out who you are and not being afraid to state it.

This is a family film. Someone mentioned that it is bashed on this site. I really can't understand that. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than it is - ethnic tradition versus the modern world and a young girl caught in between. No special effects, no enormous names, just a nice story and script with good performances. Very enjoyable.

Eight? Eight for a predictable sports-based movie where the lead overcomes every obstacle thrown at her and triumphs at the end just like every other sports-based movie? Have I gone mad? Well, no actually because although "Bend It Like Beckham" is as original as a boy-band cover version, it is still a surprisingly enjoyable film which somehow manages to avoid becoming another chick-flick cliché. A solid cast add to the mix but while there are plenty of goals, there are still one or two holes at the back which threaten the side. Incidentally, whenever I talk about football, I refer to soccer in case any US readers get confused.

Parminder "ER" Nagra plays Jess, a rebellious daughter in a strict Indian family living in London. Obsessed with football star David Beckham and possessing more skills on the pitch than she realises, she is spotted by another female footballer Jules (a very young-looking Keira Knightly) who persuades her to try out for a local football team, the Hounslow Harriers. Keeping her place in the side a secret from her family, she struggles with the gaping chasm in culture as well as her feeling for her coach Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). As her sister's wedding day approaches and the resentment from his disapproving parents (Anupam Kher and Shaheen Khan) grows, can she develop her skills further and secure her dream of playing professionally in the US?

Like I said, there is nothing shocking and surprising about the screenplay which manages to throw in every conceivable barrier for our hero to overcome. And despite the creaking plot, the story is enlivened by quality performances throughout. Nagra and Knightley are fantastic but Meyers lets the side down a bit. There is also a surprising amount of humour which is genuinely amusing, particularly from Knightley's mother (Juliet Stevenson) who worries excessively that her daughter is a closet lesbian. The clash of cultures does offer a unique perspective as far as sports movies go but it isn't much to offer the casual movie fan.

But that's the thing with sports movies - no matter how impossible victory looks or how many obstacles you put in front of the hero, you still watch them to see the hero overcome it all and bask in the glory they richly deserve. You already know how the movie will end but that doesn't stop you enjoying it - a philosophy that surely led to Sylvester Stallone making "Rocky Balboa" recently. The fact that the hero in "Bend It Like Beckham" is a cute Indian girl instead of a sixty-year-old meat head means that this is not your typical sports movie. Instead of guts and sweat, it has heart and brains and it's that which gives this film its rating. See, I haven't gone mad...

This movie might best be characterized as a collection of formulas - underdog sports flick, culture clash flick, generational conflict flick, young-love-overcomes-obstacles flick. The setting of transplanted Indian-ness makes it feel like one of Mira Nair's films - `Monsoon Wedding' or `Mississippi Masala.' There's also quite a bit of youthful, flippant, foul-mouthed, blue-collar London impertinence going on - an episode of `Eastenders,' perhaps.

And yet to dismiss the movie with this quick sketch and a few references would do it a terrible injustice. OK, no, it is perhaps not `great.' It's a feelgood movie, and while it dips a bit into serious subject waters, it doesn't stay down too long. And, it really IS a collection of all these movie formulas - and, I submit, they do exactly what they're intended to do. It's ALMOST too much, but it's not. The formulas lead to their inevitable pay offs, of course, but they pay off in ways that are not quite expected. The final outcome is rarely in doubt, but throughout the twists and turns, the audience (at least the audience where I was watching), find themselves shamelessly twisting their hankies on the sidelines, crying just a little where they're supposed to cry, and cheering when they can't but cheer. There is a point at which you want to stand up and clap wildly - it's not at the end, so you can't, but the audience where I saw it sure wanted to. I think they felt a little cheated that they couldn't. The mood of the end is not one conducive to raising the rafters, but many clapped softly anyway. Granted the movie isn't timed quite right, but it really IS that good - it makes you want to show your gratefulness for the efforts of writer, director, and actors.

Any flaws of timing or plausibility I find I can easily forgive due to the overwhelming charm of the movie's star, Parminder K. Nagra. Her expressions, her boundless energy and defiance, her ability to convey the conflict her character feels between duty to family and wishing for something more - I was completely taken in, from start to finish. This actress is going places. She has the kind of playful wit and irreverence you see in the best early John Cusack, coupled with a depth to play convincing disappointment and struggle. If you love `Say Anything,' with the passion that most true devotees, including me, do - you will love this film. In fact, if `Say Anything' is your favorite film, drop whatever you're doing and RUN out to see this film, before it leaves theatres. Drive 100 miles if you have to. It has that same magic.

It doesn't hurt that Ms. Nagra possesses a true, deep, classic beauty and grace akin to that of, say, a Kelly or a Bergman. I mean, my fellow red-blooded males, this woman is flat-out, drop-dead stunning. She's equally fetching as a feisty tomboy jock (my personal preference) or as an elegant, traditionally clad Sikh woman. Go see it to watch her, even if the subject matter isn't your thing.

It is perhaps not a great movie, but it's one that will, due to its sheer quirkiness and great heart, likely find its way onto the `favorites' shelves of many, and not just young girls aspiring to make it big and become soccer stars. Evidently the movie is a huge hit in England and Germany, and Parminder is well on her way to becoming a superstar. Go out and see what all the fuss is about.

P.S. I must beg to differ with the reviewer who claims that women's soccer is not big in the U.S. Women's soccer is HUGE in the U.S. - there are perhaps ten times as many young women playing soccer in America as in the whole of Europe. The U.S. national team is THE powerhouse international women's team, and has been for almost a decade. Brandi Chastain's shirt-removing gesture in the 1999 Women's World Cup, which graced the cover of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated, has become iconic. Young women from around the world most certainly DO aspire to be on American college teams - North Carolina and Santa Clara, I believe, particularly. American Mia Hamm, far and away the greatest women's player of all time, dominates the sport like a Michael Jordan. I'm fairly sure the U.S. is the only country to have a professional women's soccer league (maybe Japan as well?). This film is fully aware of this. If girls' soccer coaches from age five on up don't make this film required viewing for their team, they should consider leaving coaching.

Jess is 18, very smart and wants nothing more than to play football, when she joins a local team she has to lie to her parents again and again, as they would never approve of her chasing her dream, they want her to settle down with a nice Indian boy and learn how to cook.

Bend it Like Beckham is a very funny feel good movie that doesn't need to be deep and complex, it's just fine as it is. The cast are all very good and they play their roles very well, the story is simple and predictable, but it works perfectly and the script is very realistic and very funny.

A great Family movie 8/10

Thoroughly enjoyable film about a Sikh girl wanting to be a footballer. Highly unlikely in real life but you want her to be victorious and the film is put together very well to hold your attention. Whilst the football element isn't worth very much, the film is well worth watching