Bend it Like Beckham

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Bend It Like Beckham ★★★ 2002 (PG-13)

Sweet family comedy has girl power galore. Jesminder (Nagra) is the teenaged daughter of East Indian parents, living in a middleclass London suburb. They wish Jess would be more like her older sister Pinky (Panjabi), who is anticipating her traditional wedding. But what shy Jess wants is to play professional soccer—her hero is superstar player David Beckham—and she secretly joins a local team after befriending fellow player Juliette (Knightley). She impresses (and develops a crush on) her coach Joe (RhysMeyers) while trying to keep her activities from her disapproving parents. Of course, there has to be a big game, which will showcase Jess's talents. 112m/C VHS, DVD . GB GE Parminder K. Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jona than Rhys Meyers, Shaheen Khan, Anupam Kher, Archie Panjabi, Juliet Stevenson, Frank Harper, Shaznay Lewis; D: Gurinder Chadha; W: Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, Guljit Bindra; C: Jong Lin; M: Craig Pruess.