You know when you go to the pictures just because you can’t be bothered to do anything else, and you’re not really expecting much from the film, but it turns out to be great? Well, that’s what happened to me with ‘Bend it Like Beckham’. I went into the cinema tired, lethargic and a bit down in the dumps, and came out full of beans and in a very cheery, hopeful mood indeed.
Directed by Gurinder Chadha (previously known for ‘Bhaji On The Beach’), BILB tells the story of Jess (played by Parminder Nagra), a teenage girl with Indian roots who’s mad on football, and even madder on Goldenballs himself. To the despair of her rather traditionalist parents, her bedroom is covered in Beckham pictures which she talks to in the way that others write a diary.
Jess is a tomboy, and she’s good at it. She easily outclasses the lads in the park when she joins in their football games, and it’s during one of these games that she’s spotted by Jules (Keira Knightley), a pretty mean footballer herself in the local women’s team.
Jules persuades Jess to try out for the team, and from here her life turns around. She begins to eat, sleep, live and breathe football.
Only trouble is, she can’t let her parents find out. So along the way she pretends to have a part-time job, pretends to be seeing friends etc., while all the time she’s competing in matches and getting quite a name for herself on the circuit.
Complications abound in this movie, including Jess’s sister’s upcoming wedding, Jules’ infatuation with their coach Joe (Jonathan Rhys Myers), Joe’s increasing attraction to Jess and Jess’s parents desires for her to go to university, be more feminine, support her sister and generally be everything she’s not.
Eventually, of course, Jess gets caught out, her sister’s wedding is called off because of it (I won’t spoil why) and Jess is banned from playing the game ever again.
Juxtaposing footie scenes with those of traditional Indian-British life, the movie jumps energetically between the two, making many nice little contrasts and subtle social comments on the way.
This is no politically correct tract, however. It’s a big hearted movie with its tongue in its cheek and it’s toe on the ball (so to speak).
Jess is a very likeable character. She’s good-natured, humourous, pretty, intelligent and talented. No one could fail to sympathise with her and get carried along by her football fervour. Nagra plays her beautifully, hitting just the right note of ‘girl-next-door’ despite her outstanding talent.
The supporting cast are equally able and equally likeable. Rhys Myers is a real dreamboy and a convincing love interest, Knightley is good at the little she has to do.
Shaznay Lewis pops up now and again as the footie team captain and does a decent job of it, and the actress who plays Jess’s sister (who’s name I’m ashamed to say I can’t remember but she was the sister in the wonderful ‘East is East’) is fantastic as the temperamental sister who doesn’t really understand.
Mention must go to Juliet Stephenson who is fantastic as Jules’s rather thick, social-climbing mother who constantly gets the wrong end of the stick and doesn’t understand her daughter at all.
And there’s another lovely performance from the actor who plays Jess's doting dad. Having suffered racism as an immigrant when he tried to join an English cricket team, much of his disapproval of Jess’s passion comes from a desire to not want to see her hurt. When relating his story, he hits just the right note of pathos.
But this film isn’t heavy on the social issues or the pathos. It is ultimately a ‘feelgood’ movie and has plenty of delightful little surprises up its sleeve, including cameos from the men Lineker and Barnes.
I have to say that, despite this movie being a comedy, I didn’t laugh much. However, I did smile a lot.
There’s nothing sophisticated about this film, nothing complex, nothing innovative or mind-blowing. You don’t even have to think.
But when you leave the cinema with a glow in your belly and a grin on your face, you can’t complain. BILB is pure unadulterated entertainment.
Definitely recommended.
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Good
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issues of cultural clashes, female independence and the importance of family. Director Gurinder Chaddha tells the story of Jess Bhamra (Parminder K Nagra), a young gi...
issues of cultural clashes, female independence and the importance of family. Director Gurinder Chaddha tells the story of Jess Bhamra (Parminder K Nagra), a young gi...
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