Review

Review Date: 30-March-03
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Bend It Like Beckham (2003)

In many ways, Britain's feel-good hit "Bend It Like Beckham" is like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding:" it concerns a woman finding herself, falling in love for the first time, and running into some major cultural obstacles in the bosom of her ethnically traditional family. Unlike "Wedding," however, "Beckham" is actually enjoyable, because it doesn't rely solely on triteness and stupidity to find simple answers to complex questions. (Instead, it bounds right over them with an infectious, you-go-girl energy.) Although it gets a little unfocused after the first hour, the characters are interesting, the tugs on your heartstrings are not too violent, and the stakes really seem worth fighting for.

Parminder K. Nagra stars as Jess Bhamra, a sweet, serious British teen from a proper Indian family whose lifelong dream is to become a professional soccer player like her hero, David Beckham. (Like most Yanks, I had never heard of him, but he's apparently huge overseas, and not just for being married to one of the Spice Girls.) Jess' conventional parents have tolerated her little fantasy in the past because nobody ever believed there was any chance it could come true (not just because she's Indian, but also because women's soccer is not big in Europe). However, when Jess is recruited to join a local team by a waifish babe (Keira Knightly, a dead ringer for Winona Ryder), Jess and her parents suddenly have to make real decisions about what is best for her future. Naturally, her parents don't want her running around half naked in front of other people when she could be learning how to cook and trying to snag a rich husband as their other daughter has done. For Jess, the team is not only a stepping stone to her dream, but also a way of getting closer to its seductively lipped Irish coach, Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers).

Since I have already let on that "Bend It Like Beckham" is a feel-good movie, it's not giving too much away to reveal that, despite all odds, everything works out for the best. When the principal characters' initially ambiguous sexual leanings and attractions begin to take center stage in the middle of the film, things get a little boring, but a big, fat Indian wedding (and a concurrent soccer final) at the end help to pack a final punch. This is a movie that just wishes everyone could get along, be they white or Asian, young or old, traditional or modern, gay or straight, homebodies or sports fans, and asserts that if your friends and family really love you, they will just want you to be happy. Due largely to the appeal of Jess — a stable center in a whirlwind of color, comedy, and conflict — this simplistic but heartfelt message really hits its goal.

Copyright © 2003 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.