Main Cast: Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Shaheen Khan, Anupam Kher
Release Year: 2002
Country: UK
Run Time: 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
An independent-minded young woman discovers the joys of football, much to her family's chagrin, in this upbeat British comedy drama. Jess Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) is an 18-year-old growing up in West London, where her family has taken every effort to stay in touch with its Indian heritage. Jess' father and mother (Anupam Kher and Shaheen Khan) are after their daughter to go to law school, learn to cook a traditional Indian dinner, and settle down with a nice Indian boy -- the latter of which is high on the agenda of her older sister Pinky (Archie Panjabi), who is soon to wed her longtime beau Teetu (Kulvinder Ghir). However, her family is unaware that Jess has a secret passion -- football (or soccer, as it's known in North America). While Jess' enthusiasm for football star David Beckham is obvious, given the fact his photos cover the walls of her room, her parents don't know that in her spare time she likes to play a friendly game in the park with some of the boys in the neighborhood. One day, while Jess and her pals kick the ball around, she meets Jules (Keira Knightley), who is quite impressed with Jess' skills. Jules plays with a local semi-pro women's football team, the Hounslow Harriers, and she thinks Jess has what it takes to make the team. Jess knows that her parents would never approve of their daughter playing football, so she doesn't tell them, and starts spinning an increasingly complex series of lies as she tries to keep up a double life as a student and a footballer. Jess soon discovers a number of her new friends have their own problems to overcome; Jules dreams of playing pro ball in America, but has to deal with her stubborn and disapproving mother (Juliet Stevenson), while Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Hounslow's Irish coach, still struggles with the disappointment of a career as a professional athlete which was dashed by a knee injury. Bend It Like Beckham was a significant box-office success in Great Britain and Europe, but didn't reach American theaters until nearly a year after it debuted in the U.K. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Serving up Britcom clichés and genuine good heart in equal measure, Gurinder Chadha's culture-clash comedy is destined to win over all but the most cynical of audiences. Bend It Like Beckham doesn't offer any insights into Anglo-Indian issues -- racial, sexual, political, or otherwise -- that haven't already been better-covered by such filmmakers as Hanif Kureishi or Mira Nair. But it does seamlessly integrate its lighter-than-air girl-power agenda into the larger template of a screwball domestic comedy, complete with petty duplicities, a love triangle, and a climactic family wedding. Pushed along with snappy editing and a well-chosen pop soundtrack, the film buzzes by at a pleasant pace, and although the characters hem closely to their pre-ordained types (the sensible mother, the stubborn father, the impudent older sister), each is given enough screen time to make a sufficient emotional impact. None of this would work, however, without leads Parminder K. Nagra and Keira Knightley, whose easygoing rapport and apple-cheeked earnestness are a perfect fit with the movie's tone. For her part, director Chadha doesn't conjure up much visual poetry, but she does have a keen sense for the comically absurd: a throwaway shot of a gaggle of traditionally dressed Indian matriarchs digging for their cell phones -- in tandem -- is one of Beckham's best moments. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
From left to right, Jules, Jess and Joe discuss the induction of Jess into the team.
Jess Bhamra is the 18-year-old daughter of PunjabiSikh immigrants living in the United Kingdom who work at the nearby Heathrow Airport. While her parents push her towards academic achievement in the hope that she will achieve the financial success that evaded them, Jess only dreams of becoming a professional football player, confiding her dreams to a poster of football star David Beckham and by playing football in the park with her best friend, Tony.
After being discovered playing in a park by Jules, Jess decides to join a local women's team and keeps on playing secretly despite her parents' objections. She even manages to travel to Hamburg for a tournament with her team. She also feels a growing attraction towards Joe, the team's young coach, which sours her friendship with Jules, who is also infatuated with him.
After finding out, her parents become more strict and ensure she does not attend matches. Matters are brought to a head as the tournament finals coincide with the wedding of Jess' older sister. Jess' father repeatedly turned down pleas by the coach but finally allows her to go and play. The team is victorious, and Jess and Jules are offered football scholarships to an American university.
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times noted that the film caused, "a steamroller sensation at the British box office, becoming not only the first film by a nonwhite Briton to reach No. 1 over there, but also ending up as that country's top-grossing British-financed and -distributed film ever. It's a success both deserved and understandable [...] There is a reality underneath "Beckham's" easy humor, an impeccable sense of milieu that is the result of knowing the culture intimately enough to poke fun at it while understanding its underlying integrity."[2]The Times of India noted that, "Bend It..." therefore is really about the bending of rules, social paradigms and lives – all to finally curl that ball, bending it like Beckham, through the goalpost of ambition [...] The creeping divide shows that Britain is changing, but hasn't quite changed yet. The stiff upper lip has traveled miles from the time Chadha's father was denied a pint at some pubs at Southall, but like dollops of coagulated spice in badly stirred curry, discrimination crops up to spoil the taste, every now and then, in multi-racial Britain."[3]Planet Bollywood gave the film a 9 out of 10 and stated that the "screenplay not only explores the development of Jesse as a person, but also the changing values and culture of NRI teens: Jess' urge to break the social norm of the Indian homemaker, her sister's (Archie Punjabi) sexually-active relationship, and the gay Indian (Ameet Chana)."[4]The Hindu argues, "if ever there is a film that is positive, realistic and yet delightful, then it has to be Dream Production's latest venture directed by Gurinder Chadha [...] Light hearted, without taking away the considerable substance in terms of values, attitudes and the love for sport, the film just goes to prove that there are ways to be convincing and honest."[5] The BBC gave it 4 out of 5 stars and argued that "Mr. Beckham ought to be proud to have his name on such a great film."[6]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave Bend It Like Beckham a rating of 85%, based upon 142 reviews (120 fresh and 22 rotten).[7]
The UK release of the soundtrack features bhangra music, songs by Spice Girls' Victoria Beckham (whose song "IOU" can be heard during a scene involving Jule's mother but was not included on the original soundtrack) and Melanie C (Melanie C's song "I Turn To You" was used in the movie but is not included in the soundtrack) and the band Texas. It also features "Baddest Ruffest" by Backyard Dog, the aria Nessun Dorma, from Puccini's Turandot, and excerpts from the dance band Basement Jaxx.
