Bend It Like Beckham: Must See!

My wife and I saw this movie last night -- fantastic! It's got what most great movies have -- drama, comedy, romance, but most of all it's just a great story about believing in yourself.

 

Saw this yesterday with my 12yo soccer playing daughter. She absolutely loved it. I also enjoyed it, but felt the love triangle and romantic aspects were a little hokey.

Jay N.

 

I want take my 14-year-old daughter, she's a soccer player too. Is it appropriate for my 10-year-old daughter as well, or should I get a sitter?

Dan C

 

Bend It Like Beckham is a must see. I went to the movie on opening night last month with a friend and will be seeing it again this week with my girlfriend. I will probably buy the DVD when it comes out later this year. I may even get it now, as one of my DVD players is "all regions". The DVD was released in the U.K. in November, 2002. This is a movie that I can safely recommend to just about anyone. It has drama, comedy, the love triangle thing, though I do agree it's a tad hokey, but everyone leaves the theatre with a big smile on their face. It's nice to have one or two good movies in this genre every year to distract us from all the stresses in the world.

BTW, there are some good tunes in the film as well.

 

Good movies I've seen recently, thanks to Netflix:

Amelie

The Good Girl

Storytelling

The Wonder Boys

 

Should be great for the 10 yo also. A very empowering movie for young girls. Enjoy!

 

I know this is not strictly on topic, but I would be fascinated to know if you guys have heard much about David Beckham? He is a massive icon in the UK and Europe but given that he plays football with the 'wrong' shaped ball, I would be surprised if he's that well known on the other side of the Atlantic. Or am I wrong?

 

He's probably best known here as the other superstar/beautiful half of that Posh Spice or whoever she is.
Americans have never really taken to pro soccer.
Dan C

 

OK, Lucifer, I'm cheating a bit because whilst I live in Canada, I was born and raised in the East End of London (in Stratford, 2 stops down from Beckham's birthplace in Leytonstone). Of course, I'm a massive West ham and England fan but I've lived in Canada for 25 years (I'm 38). We get more Premiership football on TV here than you do in England (with almost EVERY Man Utd game on live). If one chooses to follow English football in North America, then it is very easy to know who David Beckham is (for his free kicks and crosses, as opposed to being Mr Posh).

My continuing frustration when visiting England is that North American sport is not covered very much on English TV (though I understand Sky Sports is now showing more American Football and Basketball).

Cliff

 

Excellent resource, Ken.
Thanks much,
Dan C

 

Never heard of him before the movie...

 

Hi Cliff

Interesting that you get more live Premiership football than we do over here! But I was wondering about the awareness of Beckham amongst people who don't particularly follow English football - is he still a well known personality or have most people never heard of him ? I assume the latter is the case ...

Over here Sky Sports shows American football. Also, Channel 5 show Baseball, and even American college soccer, if you choose to stay up until 4am!

Good luck for next weekend by the way, I am crossing my fingers that West Ham stay up.

 

Although I know who he is, I don't believe that most Americans really know who Beckham is, and he's certainly not a widely celebrated sports superstar. I'm certain that most people, if they know of him at all, know him as 'Posh' Spice's husband. For the record, here in the North Eastern US, all Manchester United games can be seen on the YES (Yankees Entertainment and Sports) cable network and I believe that Premiership football is also carried on either Fox Sports NY or MSG (Madison Square Garden) or possibly both I'm forgetting at the moment.

 

Lucifer,
Thanks ..... I'm afraid we'll need both your prayers and finger crossing. The reason we get more live games is due to the rule in England that 3 p.m. kick-offs cannot be shown live (for fear of hurting the gate receipts). We also get a couple of more delayed matches on Saturdays in their entirety that you likely only see on Match Of The Day.

You are correct as far as the US is concerned. Very few people have heard of David Beckham just as in England very few people have heard of major American athletes such as Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan. I was reading an interview with the Bend It director and she apologized for never hearing of Wayne Gretzky (possibly the top ice hockey player of all-time and an icon in Canada).

Here in Canada, it's a bit different as the immigrant population stays very close to its roots, so football (soccer) is still avidly followed (be it by British, Italians or whatever) for their respective homeland domestic leagues and national teams.

It would be safe to conclude that in North America overall, Victoria is a more popular Beckham than David.

Cliff

 

GB,
You are somewhat correct. YES shows tapes of that week's games as well as vintage games. Your regional networks (FSNY and MSG) also show delayed games and highlights. Fox Sports World shows live matches and there are games on Saturday and Sunday on PPV.

Cliff - who watches all of these on his DirecTV dish (Canada's national sport) (saying much more would get me Gorted )

 

Cliff,

You are correct about the games on the regional sports networks and YES and Fox Sports World as well as the PPV on DirecTV (of which I am a subscriber) which I forgot to mention. As for DirecTV in Canada, we'll just keep that among friends.

 

.........and a particularly attractive female co-star!

 

Surprisingly enough, David Beckham was already mentioned in one of the threads here around the time of the World Cup finals.

 

That particularly attractive co star is Kiera Knightly. She is staring in a movie about dead pirates this summer. Nice girl and indeed quite a looker.

 

She really is cute! She'd look even better if she wasn't so thin!