Bend It Like Beckham
Release date: 2002-04-11
Votes: 1987
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Jess Bhamra, the daughter of a strict Indian couple in London, is not permitted to play organized soccer, even though she is 18. When Jess is playing for fun one day, her impressive skills are seen by Jules Paxton, who then convinces Jess to play for her semi-pro team. Jess uses elaborate excuses to hide her matches from her family while also dealing with her romantic feelings for her coach, Joe.
Reviews
CinemaSerf
"Jess" (Parminder Nagra) and "Jules" (Keira Knightly) are friends drawn together by their love of football. The thing is, neither of their mother's are exactly enamoured of the idea. With her sister's marriage looming, and her mother married at fifteen, "Jess" is facing significant hostility from her mother (Shaheen Khan) whilst "Jules" is struggling to convince her own mother (Juliet Stevenson) that she's not going to end up a lesbian with tree-trunk thighs. There's little danger of the former though as both have the hots for coach "Connor" (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). As the girls' team becomes more successful both have to juggle their family's reservations, their own lives and their love of the game - which actually features very sparingly. There are a few titter moments now and again, but I found that for the most part this is just a film about stereotypes - real or imaginary - populated by some really mediocre acting and not greatly enhanced by some banal writing and the always wooden JRM. It's also quite curious that it's co-produced by BSkyB yet they used the BBC's "Match of the Day" presentation team and their legendary commentator John Motson to give the thing a bit of body. It's harmless fun, quite possibly inspiring girls to play the game and some parents to let them whilst reminding us of "Brand Beckham" at it's most potent.
Movie Recommendation
We Can Do That2008-10-31The film follows Nello, the recently hired director of a newly developed work cooperative of former mental patients. After the closure of state psychiatric hospitals and asylums in Italy under the Basaglia Law many former patients were left with few resources and little hope of reintegrating into society. With the intention of actually improving the lives of his pupils, rather than just sedating them, Nello encourages them to expand their individual abilities and explore the wider world around them although, regardless of intention, there is sometimes a price to pushing boundaries too quickly.More...
Easy Virtue2008-11-07A young Englishman marries a glamorous American. When he brings her home to meet the parents, she arrives like a blast from the future - blowing their entrenched British stuffiness out the window.More...
Barbershop2002-04-01A day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin, who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out.More...
At Middleton2013-10-09George is an uptight surgeon with a rebellious teenage son. Edith is a free spirit with an overachieving teenage daughter. When they meet during an admissions tour with their kids at the small, idyllic Middleton University, they decide to ditch the group. Though adversaries at first, they soon discover that the only thing better than the college tour, is the detour.More...
East Is East1999-05-14In 1971 Salford fish-and-chip shop owner George Khan expects his family to follow his strict Pakistani Muslim ways. But his children, with an English mother and having been born and brought up in Britain, increasingly see themselves as British and start to reject their father's rules on dress, food, religion, and living in general.More...
Violet & Daisy2011-09-15Two teenage assassins accept what they think will be a quick-and-easy job, until an unexpected target throws them off their plan.More...
Princess of Thieves2001-03-11Sherwood forest has a courageous new hero - Gwyn, the daughter of Robin Hood. Possessing the cunning skills of her legendary father and the beauty and intelligence of her mother Maid Marian, Gwyn is anxious to follow in her father's footsteps. King Richard nears death and Robin Hood and his Merry Men are summoned to help bring Richard's son Philip to his rightful place on the throne before the evil Prince John can assume power. Robin Hood's life and that of the future King of England soon lies in Gwyn's hands when Robin is captured and sentenced to death.More...
Don't Hug Me I'm Scared2012-10-24A disturbing puppet short exploring the concept of creativity.More...
A Cop1972-10-01A Parisian police chief has an affair, but unbeknownst to him, the boyfriend of the woman he’s having an affair with is a bank robber planning a heist.More...
Sweeney Todd2006-01-03A BBC adaptation of the Victorian "penny dreadful" tale of 19th century "demon barber" Sweeney Todd, of Fleet Street, who cuts the throats of unsuspecting clients in his London shop.More...
Bernard and Doris2006-09-01Tobacco heiress Doris Duke develops an unlikely friendship with her butler, Bernard Lafferty.More...
Better Luck Tomorrow2002-01-12A group of over-achieving Asian-American high school seniors enjoy a power trip when they dip into extra-curricular criminal activities.More...
3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain1998-03-26Three young boys, Rocky, Colt and Tum Tum together with their neighbor girl, computer whiz Amanda are visiting Mega Mountain amusement park when it is invaded by an army of ninjas led by evil Medusa, who wants to take over the park and hold the owners for ransom. Kids and retired TV star Dave Dragon, who made his farewell appearance at the park at the time the ninjas appeared, have to break Medusa's vicious plans.More...
Eccezzziunale... veramente1982-03-04Diego Abatantuono in the shoes of three huge fans: the Juventus truck driver Tirzan, the head of the ultra Milanese Donato and the Franco inter.More...
Signori si nasce1960-04-28Baron Zazà, always broke due his dissolute lifestyle, decides to con a hefty sum of money out of his wealthy but greedy brother.More...
Link1986-03-05Young graduate student Jane Chase becomes the new assistant to an eccentric zoology professor at the remote home he shares with two brilliant chimpanzees and an elderly orangutan butler named Link. But when one of the chimps is found dead and the professor mysteriously disappears, Link becomes dangerously aggressive towards Jane. Now, the time for “monkey business” is over and the true terror is about to begin.More...
Agathe Cléry2008-11-11Agathe Clery, a marketing manager for a cosmetics company, is snobbish, stubborn and racist. When she is diagnosed with Addison Syndrome, an disorder that darkens the pigmentation of one's skin, she suddenly finds herself resembling a black woman.More...
Bessie2015-05-16The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.More...
The World Champion2021-12-30Some sporting victories are about more than just claiming a title. Some of them go down in history. The film follows the most dramatic and legendary showdown in the history of chess – the match between Anatoly Karpov, then world champion, and Viktor Korchnoi, a recent emigrant from the USSR. In this battle between two outstanding chess players, a duel of personalities under immense psychological pressure, the stakes are incomprehensibly high.More...
Hide and Seek2021-11-19Noah is seeking to reconnect with his outcast brother after the death of their father. He hopes to make amends and share the family's fortune, but instead finds himself in a dark underworld that threatens to tear his family apart. As he struggles to maintain his sanity, Noah is led on a terrifying trail to the truth through a series of cryptic clues.More...
Similar Movies
Darker Than Midnight
2014-05-15Davide is different from the other teenagers. Something makes him look like a girl. Davide is fourteen when he runs away from home. His intuition leads him to choose Villa Bellini, a park in Catania, as a refuge. The park is a world in itself, a world of the marginalized, to which the rest of the city turns a blind eye. But one day the past catches up and Davide has to face the most difficult choice, this time alone.That Lovely Girl
2014-08-21Moshe and Tami are a couple, Moshe is in his fifties and Tami is in her early twenties. They live together in a cruel and violent relationship, from which Tami seems unable to set herself free. Tami and Moshe are father and daughter...Love Letter
1953-12-13A sad and troubled man finds a new job five years after the end of WWII, where he writes love letters for other people.Borderless
2022-11-11Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Denys is forced to leave his country. He has nothing left but the hope of seeing Dmitrii, a young recruit of the Russian army.My Life Without Me
2003-03-07A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.Walk on Water
2004-02-05Eyal, an Israeli Mossad agent, is given the mission to track down and kill the very old Alfred Himmelman, an ex-Nazi officer, who might still be alive. Pretending to be a tourist guide, he befriends his grandson Axel, in Israel to visit his sister Pia. The two men set out on a tour of the country, during which Axel challenges Eyal's values.9 Songs
2004-07-16Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.Billy Elliot
2000-09-28County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.American History X
1998-07-01Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two African-American men. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard's narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L.A. and his actions greatly influenced Danny. Reformed and fresh out of prison, Derek severs contact with the gang and becomes determined to keep Danny from going down the same violent path as he did.All About My Mother
1999-04-16Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.Open Hearts
2002-09-06Cecilie and Joachim are about to get married when a freak car accident leaves Joachim disabled, throwing their lives into a spin. The driver of the other car, Marie, and her family don’t get off lightly, either. Her husband Niels works in the hospital where he meets Cecilie and falls madly in love with her.Italian for Beginners...
2000-12-07Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.Bad Education
2004-03-19When an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school.Brokeback Mountain
2005-10-22In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.Breaking the Waves
1996-07-05In a small, conservative Scottish village, an oilman is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when he urges her to have sex with another.The Secret Life of Wo...
2005-12-15A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.Lost in Translation
2003-09-18Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.White Snow
2020-12-07An inspiring biopic about the legendary skier Elena Vyalbe. Born in a small town in the north of Russia, she had the courage and dedication to overcome a slew of obstacles on her way to becoming the very best in her sport. The film captures a historic skiing event at the 1997 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway, where Elena Vyalbe made skiing history by winning five out of five gold medals, which to this day remains a record achievement.Sanda
1990-01-01Sanda spends all her time working in a plastic factory, raising her two small children and catering to an indifferent husband, leaving little room for herself. A chance encounter with another man may offer her an escape from her daily chores.Helen
2009-11-26On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.