Bend It Like Beckham Review
by Michael J. Gold (mjgold01 AT yahoo DOT com)June 25th, 2003
Bend It Like Beckham ***
Directed By: Gurinder Chadha
Written By: Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges and Guljit Bindra Music By: Craig Pruess
Jesminder Bhamra: Parminder K. Nagra
Juliette Paxton: Keira Knightley
Joe: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers
Mr. Bhamra: Anupam Kher
Mrs. Bhamra: Shaheen Khan
Pinky Bhamra: Archie Panjabi
Alan Paxton: Frank Harper
Paula Paxton: Juliet Stevenson
Running Time: 1:52
Rated PG-13 (for language and sexual content)
Reviewed by: Michael J. Gold
Jesminder Bhamra (Parminder K. Nagra) is your typical British teenage tomboy with a passion for football (what Americans would call Soccer). While running in the local park Juliette Paxton (Keira Knightley) notices Jess playing against and embarrassing the local boys and quickly invites her to come and play on her team in a local league. Jess is flabbergasted not only that an actual league for girl's football exists, but also that Juliette believes she is good enough to play in it.
Jess's parents (Anupam Kher and Shaheen Khan) want Jess to act more like a proper girl and learn to cook and begin to search for a husband. They forbid her from playing football, but Jess can't understand why would anyone want to cook for a husband when they can bend a ball like football superstar David Beckham and continues to play anyway. Their coach Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) is a handsome young Irishman whose football career was ended early due to a knee injury and complicates Jess and Juliette's friendship because both have a crush on him.
Meanwhile Jess' sister Pinky (Archie Panjabi) has gotten engaged to a local Indian boy presenting more pressure upon Jess to be like her sister in addition to all her duties to help her sister and family for the upcoming wedding.
The film written and directed by Gurinder Chadha is very smart and knows its characters extremely well. The main characters are complex and never presented as stereotypical single-minded people. They have hopes, dreams, and desires and yet understand that they also have responsibilities and obligations as well. They are conflicted between the two and uncertain about which decisions are the right ones.
In her first feature film, Parminder Nagra brings a lot of energy to the character of Jess and seems to effortlessly include us as co-conspirators when she sneaks off to play football. In addition, Anupam Kher and Shaheen Khan are perfect as Jess' parents showing the right balance between trying to lead her down the path they believe is best for her and allowing her the freedom to discover her own path to happiness.
Overall, "Bend It Like Beckham" is a wonderful sly coming of age comedy. The film embraces the differences not only in the culture and traditions of Jess' family, but also in the differences between the generations. Because it handles all these differences with an unusual zest and wonder for life it becomes a simply infectious film.
Copyright 2003 by Michael J. Gold
Michael Gold
---------------------------------
Gold Reviews:
http://www.geocities.com/mjgold01
Get free movie reviews in your e-mail at:
http://www.geocities.com/mjgold01
or by sending a blank e-mail to:
[email protected]
More on 'Bend It Like Beckham'...
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
