‘Beckham’ Scores With A Good Story,

Plus Charm And Charisma To Spare

The buzz has already begun: “It might well be this year’s My BigFat Greek Wedding!” says Entertainment Weekly. “This was a great message of how you can be spiritual and true to your culture and still have athletics as part of your life,” chimes pro soccer star Brandi Chastain. “An exhilarating British comedy...a Rocky for girls,” enthuses Elle magazine.

Bend It Like Beckham, the film about which all these folks are raving, is indeed an immensely entertaining, uplifting movie, but there’s one small problem: its title. For example, no matter how hard he tried, my buddy, who also enjoyed the picture, couldn’t get its title right. He kept continually referring to it as “Just Like Beckman!” It doesn’t help matters when every time I try to tell anyone about the movie, they all reply with the same response: “Bend it like who?” Ugh!

Now playing at Bethel Cinema and already a huge hit in the UK, “Bend It Like Beckham” (boasting a title to which the Fox Searchlight marketing team bravely stuck) refers to Manchester United soccer star David Beckham (whom celebrity watchers will also know as the British athlete married to Victoria Adams, a/k/a “Posh Spice”) and his unique style of striking the ball (think curveball except in soccer). However, it also becomes clear as the film plays out that the title figuratively stands for breaking the mold and busting out of stereotypes.

Directed by Gurinder Chadha, Bend It Like Beckham follows teenager Jess Bhamra (Parminder Nagra), who is studying to become a solicitor, but her heart’s in the park playing soccer with the boys. She’s also under fire from her traditional Indian mother (Shaheen Khan, riotously funny as the perturbed, constantly exasperated matriarch), who wonders aloud why Jess can’t be more like her sister Pinky (Archie Panjabi), who is in the midst of preparing for a fine, conventional Indian wedding.

After her mom chides her, asking “Who’d want a girl who plays football all day but can’t make chapattis?” Jess hides from her parents the fact that she has been recruited to play on a women’s team, the Hounslow Harriers, after one of their star players, Jules Paxton (Keira Knightley), spies her more than holding her own against the guys. It’s an offer Jess can’t refuse, and soon she’s sneaking off to chase after a dream she never knew could even remotely become reality. Oh, but heaven help her if her parents find out!

Strictly speaking, Bend It Like Beckham is full of situations that we’ve seen before: there’s the youngster’s chafing against the orthodox upbringing of her parents; the film develops a romantic triangle between Jess, Jules and their attractive coach (Jonathan Rhys Meyers); and there’s the inevitable misunderstandings that arise when Jules’ mother (wonderfully played as a flighty mess by accomplished actress Juliet Stevenson) gets the idea that Jess and Jules’ relationship is more than meets the eye.

Without the care that Chadha and co-writers Paul Mayeda Berges and Guljit Bindra have obviously applied to the making of this film, the plot could have played out very hackneyed and rote, but instead it’s lively and often flat-out hilarious. It also helps that its cast is extremely likable, and when the leads are as endearing and photogenic as Nagra and Knightley, it’s hard to go wrong. Plus, I’ll readily admit I’m a sucker for any decently made, rah-rah sports movie. After last year’s exceptional sports movie The Rookie, this one follows it up with charm and charisma to spare.

Bend It Like Beckham is rated PG-13 for profanity and sexual content that belie the sweetness at its core. Though some of the salty language may not be appropriate for all ages, it’s applause-worthy message and crowd-pleasing storytelling are likely to win many over.