Rating: 
Summary: Nice Arc
Review: We need more films like this. No stars, just solid acting and a great story. No big egos to muck up the script, or hog the scenes. Wonderful feel good story about a young girl not following in the well worn path and facade of her family's expectations. She follows her dreams undeterred by the disappointment she causes in everyone on her side of the ball. In OT she scores because of her strength and honesty, and her realistic look at a crazy world.
Rating: 
Summary: Girl power
Review: In this film Jess,a young Indian girl living in England wants to be a soccer star just like her idol Beckam. She plays games in the park with boys and catches the eye of a young English girl who plays on an all-girl team. She invites the Indian girl to try out for her team and Jess agrees. The problem comes with her family, a very traditional Indian family who think that a girl's efforts should be directed toward a future marriage and family rather than towards sports. The girl dodges her family and manages to play in secret until finally her parents discover what she's been doing. They forbid her to play in a final tournament where she has a chance to be seen by a scout from America who is recruiting girls for a college team.
This is a movie about determination and about the delicate balance between honoring old traditions and yet being true to one's self. It is a heart-warming story, marred only by unfamiliar accents and phrases which will not all be understood by American audiences. Still, it's well worth the viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful Fun
Review: This movie is unpretentious, pure, heartfelt fun. The story is laugh-out-loud funny from start to finish. The opening scene, in which Jess dreams of being a soccer star broadcast on TV, immediately sets the tone of the film and draws you in. The soccer scenes are great, but not so dominating that those of us unversed in matters of sports can't follow. Watch out for Keira Knightley's spirited acting and her hilarious relationship with her homophobic mother. Oh, and don't press the "stop" button before the closing credits end.
Rating:
Summary: Fun movie; not the greatest acting
Review: Summary:
Jesminder 'Jess' Bhamra (Parminder K. Nagra) is a in her late teens and has been playing soccer casually all her life. She loves the game, and most especially, loves David Beckham (he's an English soccer great for those that don't know). As she's playing in the park one day with some friends, another female soccer player, Juliette 'Jules' Paxton (Keira Knightley), sees her playing and recognizes that she's good. Jules approaches Jess and invites her to a practice with her competitive team. The team's coach, Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), agrees, Jess is good. So, Joe invites Jess to play for them. She excitedly agrees, but then realizes she has to face her parents (Mr. Bhamra - Anupam Kher; Mrs. Bhamra - Shaheen Khan), who she knows won't be to keen of the idea. And, well, she's right. Her mother quickly shoots her down, but she goes behind their backs and plays anyway. The playing seems fine, until Jess starts to fall for the coach, Joe, who Jules already liked. But the coach can't get involved with any of his players while his coaching them, club rules. So, in a romantic moment, even though they're not supposed to, Jess and Joe are about to kiss when Jules catches them. This puts Jules and Jess at odds. Then, Jess's parents find out she is playing soccer and she is doubly in trouble. Finally, her sister, Pinky (Archie Panjabi), sets her wedding date for the day of Jess's final match, at which there is supposed to be an American scout that might invite her to play in a professional league in America. Through a rather complicated turn of events, Jess is finally able to get away from the wedding, with her father's blessing, to play the second half of the game. Of course, they win! And, Jess and Jules work things out. Afterwards, Jess and Jules are both offered scholarships to play in America. Of course Jess's mother will have none of it, but her dad, who used to be a great cricket player, comes through for her and says she can do it. My Comments:
There are a lot of reasons to like this movie. Foremost is obviously that it is about soccer (I'm a soccer player; I can say that). But it isn't really about soccer; it is about a lot of other issues. And those issues and the treatment of them are really what make this an engaging movie. There is the idea of old traditions meeting new cultures and cultural ideals. There is also the idea of young women 'coming of age' in a modern world. And, there is romance, friendship, and parents realizing that their children can have a better life than they did due to some of the new opportunities in the world. All of these issues are woven into a complex story, but treated fairly (though definitely with a pro-modernist bent). So, yes, there are a lot of reasons to like this film. There are, however, a couple of reasons not to like it: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Keira Knightley. I was absolutely amazed at the performances of Parminder K. Nagra and Anupam Kher, but Jonathan and Keira, nope, nothing happening here. Keira only knew how to overact; she seemed like she would be more at home on a stage than in front of a camera. Joe, on the other hand, just didn't relay the deep frustrations that were supposed to be haunting his character. Because there are some good actors and some bad ones, it balances out to be an okay all around movie, but it was disappointing to see brilliant portrayals (Nagra and Kher) brought down by their much less brilliant fellow actors. The story is very good. As noted above, it is able to incorporate a lot of themes, all of which are treated convincingly and reassuringly. At the end of the movie you feel like saying, "There is hope for the collision between the two worlds. It may not be easy, but people can adjust." The only problem I might have with the story is that, perhaps, it incorporates too many sub-plots (like Jess and Jules being lesbians; it started out funny, but got old after a while and really wasn't necessary). Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It takes a lot of poignant issues for today's teenagers in an increasingly multi-cultural world, puts them into a quick-paced but compelling story, and shows how this issue can be worked through and ultimately resolved. As Billy Elliott wasn't really about ballet, Bend It Like Beckham isn't really about soccer. But both movies use those settings to present engaging stories that deal with powerful issues. I highly recommend this film, especially for teenagers or parents who might be dealing with these kinds of issues.
Rating:
Summary: Warm and Winning!
Review: This is a wonderful story about a girl wanting to pursue her dreams of soccer stardom. But don't make the mistake of thinking that you should have more than a passing interest in the game in order to understand and relate to this film. All you need to know is that the Beckham of the title is the Michael Jordon/Wayne Gretzky or English soccer and that he has the ability to kick a ball along a curved trajectory, hence "bending it". The basic themes are far more universal, centering around the differences between parents and children, males and females, and Western versus East Asian cultures. Parminder Nagra plays Jesminder (Jess for short), the younger daughter of an Indian family living near London. Unlike her sister and many of her friends, her dreams deal not with gaining a husband and having children but playing professional soccer. As if to underscore the philosophical divide, the portrait of a Sikh religious figure dominates the living room of the family home while a poster of her idol David Beckham is the most prominent feature of her room, with both images being on the receiving end of various prayers and confidences. Not surprisingly, Jess' traditionally-minded family does not view her obsession with football as a positive goal (no pun intended). When she is recruited by Jules (Keira Knightley) to play on a girl's tournament team, Jess tries to balance lessons in traditional Indian cooking with her mother with surreptitious training and games. Jules has her concerns with the possibility of impressing an American scout, and a mother that frets over the possibility of her daughter's passion for athletics turning her into a lesbian. Toss a mutual affection that both girls have for their Irish soccer coach and you have a wealth of opportunities for confrontation, misinterpretation and cultural conflict. The beauty of the film is that it handles this collection of familial, generational and cultural disconnects with a loving warmth and humor that alienates no one. Differing views and goals aside, the respect and affection between all of the characters is never in doubt, and it makes for a most entertaining story. It's a keeper!
Rating:
Summary: Watch It!
Review: Watch it! It's about a teenage Indian girl in England who has a talent and passion for soccer and wants to play at the highest levels. The problem is her Sikh parents are appalled and opposed to their daughter's desires. They want her to behave like a traditional Sikh girl of her mother's generation back in India. The film moves fast and has more than enough background components to keep is stimulating.
We first see Jess, the Sikh girl, playing pickup soccer with the men. She has a friend-confident among the men who later confides to her that he is gay. An "Anglo" British girl, Jules, recruits Jess to play on a competitive girl's team. The girls become good friends but end up estranged for a while because both girls have more than a crush on their male soccer coach. The soccer coach is Irish, which leads to a good twist or two, this being England. Jules' mother overhears Jess and Jules talking heatedly about this love. A Sikh woman spots Jess and Jules talking together and mistakenly thinks they were kissing. Both sides-Jules mother and Jess's family think they are having a lesbian affair. Jess's sister is engaged to be married. Jess's un-Sikh like activities cause the family some disgrace, which threatens the sister's engagement. The Sikh wedding is an uproarious, opulent, and fairly sensual affair. Jess drew great empathy from me. I was pulling for her the whole way. The film makes you want to run out on a field and kick soccer ball into the goal. The dialogue in the film is in a heavy British accent and often fast. You will have to pay close attention if you like to catch all the dialogue, like I do. The only thing that lacked credibility was the actress who played Jules. Her acting was fine, but she looked too much like a model. For a girl jock, her high-glamour lipstick looked ridiculous, and her body looked like anything but an athlete's. There are many scenes where she is shown bare midriff (wearing a soccer/sports bra), and she is such skin-and-bones, she looks ridiculous. The actress could never have played sports in her life. You will like the movie if you have daughters that like sports, or if you just like sports, relate to cultural conflicts, or relate to conflicts between teenagers and their parents. My son Andrew (10) liked it because it was about soccer. Michael (8) likes soccer, but his attention wandered. If you are a parent, don't worry about the mention of homosexuality. It's very understated, and I discovered (to my dismay, of course) that my children already know about such things. If my kids know, your kids know. The movie is fun, more than it is funny. There is a little more emphasis on drama, than, say, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but Bend It Like Beckam does have a happy ending. It is a warm triumph of the human spirit. The "Lindy" (my wife) Litmus test: Pass. She watched the movie all the way through with great interest. It's the mother-daughter conflict that got her.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT MOVIE!
Review: This movie is outrageously humorus and fun. It also has quite a touch of romance to it. I would reccomend this movie to ANYONE. Especially soccer players!
Rating:
Summary: Celebrate the Age!
Review: Many others have beautifully described this film so I will, again, share a personal response to it. Celebrate! The world is not all gloom and doom with an impenetrable glass ceiling awaiting every female who would pursue their dreams. No longer do we need to sit glumly by and watch the world go to war on every issue from disease, and poverty, to the latest diet, drugs and the military industrial complex. We can now go to the movies and see glimpses of the emergence of the founding principles of a peaceful, creative world. Whale Rider did it. Honor the past and carry its spirit forward into the new century. Winged Migration did it. We all have within ourselves the ability to recognize truth without words. And Bend it Like Beckham does it. Let Gurinder Chadha create a film that testifies to her own ability to penetrate the glass ceilings of prejudice and perceived limitation. The DVD features make it even more endearing. I am going to try to cook curry from scratch now. Beckham is on my list of films that revive the spirit. My kids can watch this any time, as many times as they want...and aspire to fulfill their own dreams.
Rating: 
Summary: Standard fare with an accent.
Review: I really wanted to like Bend It Like Beckham. The cast was good at playing their very one dimensional roles and cutting standard Hollywood dialouge. However I was expecting that maybe, just maybe there would be one single shred of originality. However there was none. The plot twists were predictable, and I did not even feel good after watching the movie. Try this movie yourself and form your own opinions. But if you are looking for anything original this movie fails to deliver.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful comedy
Review: Jess is an indian girl and lives with her family in London. She has a great passion for soccer and David Beckham as her idol but her family disapprove of her choices.
She should stick to indian traditions and forget about soccer, and the indian traditions is what makes this movie so hilarious!
A must see! Highly Recommended
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