Bend It Like Beckham **** (2002, Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers) – Classic Movie Review 950

Co-writer/director Gurinder Chadha’s 2002 movie focuses on two 18-year-old girls who chase their dreams of playing professional soccer in this goal-scoring comedy. Jess (Parminder Nagra) just wants to play like her hero David Beckham, but her parents want her to be a nice, ordinary Indian girl.

She’s spotted at a London park by Jules (Keira Knightley), who invites her to join the local girls’ team. They become pals and their team starts going places. Jules’s mum (Juliet Stevenson) isn’t keen on the soccer thing either, worrying that her daughter has become a lesbian, little realising Jules fancies the pretty-boy team coach (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). But then so does Jess.

The amusing, if predictable story breathes fresh life into familiar situations, raising some big, good-natured laughs, especially over the culture clash between India and England. Both girls give classy performances but Stevenson scores an own goal in an actressy sitcom turn.

‘David Beckham’ appears at the end of the movie but it’s a double – Andy Harmer. So does ‘Victoria Beckham’, ditto, it’s Gill Penny.

Parminder Nagra explains the hardships of film-making: ‘The top question I always get is, ‘What was it like to kiss Jonathan Rhys Meyers, you lucky cow?” What can I say? He was great to kiss. Good lips. It was embarrassing, actually. The first time we had that kissing scene, I actually forgot my lines, I got so lost in it. There was silence all around me and I thought “Why is everything so quiet?” I looked around and then said, “Oh, it’s me, isn’t it?”‘

It was a huge hit, grossing $76.5 million on a $6 million budget, and a stage musical version opened at London’s Phoenix Theatre on 24 June 2015.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 950

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