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'Bend it Like a Beckham'

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Starring: Keira Knightley, Parminder Nagra
Director: Gurinder Chadha
MPAA rating: PG-13 for language and sexual content
Running time: 112 minutes
Release date: April 4
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A girl-power comedy, 'Bend' scores

Photo Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures

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By Ty Burr
The Boston Globe

Posted: April 4, 2003

Soccer moms of Greater Boston: Start your minivans.

Moviegoers of all ages who responded to feel-good imports such as "The Full Monty," "Billy Elliot," and "Monsoon Wedding" stand to be well and truly charmed by the new British comedy-drama "Bend It Like Beckham." That said, the film's most natural appeal is to adolescent athletes -- in particular, cleat-wearing young ladies who will bask in its hard-won girl-power message. This is a movie with bruised shins and a huge heart.

First, a word about that title. It's not as vaguely kinky as it sounds: To "bend" a soccer ball is to kick it so that it curves in midair, preferably around a goalie. One of the finest living proponents of the bend is David Beckham, midfielder for the Manchester United team, husband to Victoria Beckham (a.k.a. Posh Spice), and without question the biggest name in British football (soccer to us Yanks) of the past decade.

Jesminder "Jess" Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) can't yet bend it like Beckham, but it's not for lack of trying. The Indian teenager, part of a bustling community of Sikhs who live under the flight paths of London's Heathrow Airport, not only maintains a bedroom shrine to her football hero but unloads all her hopes, dreams, and petty annoyances to his poster. They include the usual pubescent growing pains: pampered big sister Pinky (Archie Panjabi) is getting married, the relatives are loudly wondering when Jess will get a boyfriend, and all the girl wants to do is kick the ball around the park with her mates.

Those friends, all male, are willing to play with Jess because she's good -- really good -- but with the exception of Tony (Ameet Chana), they still treat her like something of a freak. Her bullying mother (Shaheen Khan) and stern yet loving father (Anupam Kher), meanwhile, are deeply alarmed by their daughter's untraditional ways. "Bend It Like Beckham" shows the insularity of an ethnic subculture trying to hold onto its identity within a larger host culture, and mold-breakers like Jess aren't appreciated. Even Jess doesn't quite know what to do with herself until she is approached by an English girl who asks her to try out for a football team, the Hounslow Harriers.

Life at home isn't easy for Jules (Keira Knightley), either. Her relentlessly cheery mother (Juliet Stevenson) is at a loss over how to deal with a beautiful daughter who shows no interest in garden-variety femininity. The womanliness these girls show is strictly on the field, in football drills and games that are presented as hard-charging, exhilarating, and self-defining. The way Nagra plays her, Jess is a brooding misfit at home who comes alive the moment she sets foot on a pitch.

Complications ensue, needless to say. Some are comic, such as when Jules's mum wrongly assumes that her daughter and Jess have developed more than a casual friendship. Others are more urgent: In order to play, Jess must lie about her involvement with the Harriers to her parents, with expected consequences. And still others are overcooked, as when Jess finds herself attracted to her sensitive young coach Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, of "Velvet Goldmine"). As unseemly as that might read in print, director Gurinder Chadha plays their hesitant courtship for pleasantly formulaic movie romance, and gratifyingly, it doesn't end the way you might think.

Everything else does, though, including Tony's big secret and whether Jess will be able to get away from her sister's wedding in time to make it to the big game. Those looking for great art, narrative surprise, or groundbreaking filmmaking will come away from "Bend It Like Beckham" disappointed. Anyone seeking a deep-dish audience-pleaser -- not to mention a heroine with a nifty head shot -- will fill the stands and cheer.

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