1. Soccer is called football everywhere else

2. David Beckham is the most famous athlete in all of the world, for the exception of the US. This is because he plays soccer. He played for Manchester United until earlier this year when he was traded to Real Madrid, the Spanish soccer team.

3. To "bend it" means to kick the ball in a manner in which the ball will curve around the opponents.

4. Beckham is married to the hottest Spice Girl, Posh Spice. Really though. Can you actually call her a Spice Girl still, now that the group is completely irrelevant in every entertainment medium?

With that out of the way...

Jesminder (Parminder Nagra) is the youngest daughter from a traditional Indian family in England. All that she wants to do is play football - and to no one's surprise she has the talent for it. After all, when's she's not talking to the picture of David Beckham that graces her bedroom wall, she's practicing "footie" with the boys in the park. But there's a little problem. Her family is so strictly traditional that they would never allow her to play such a sport. Besides, there are better things for her to do, like learn to cook Aloo Gobi and find herself a nice man to settle down with. Of course, a little thing like tradition never slowed an 18 year old girl, and soon Jes is scouted by a local girl's team, led by captain Juliette (Kiera Knightley).

Even though football plays a huge part in Bend It Like Beckham, it's not the dominate factor in the film. Thankfully, the audience gets a lot more important things like an inside look at a modern Indian family. The family is part of a culture balancing ever so lightly on that edge between the modern and traditional. Jes' doesn't want to disappoint her family but she also wants to do that which makes her happy. That's not to say that this is some kind of grave look at a culture lost, quite the opposite. The scenes with the family are very funny in that wacky family comedy way that we've loved in sitcoms for oh so many years.

Obviously, a lot happens in Bend It Like Beckham, so there's never a dull moment. People are mistaken as gay, straight, in love and out of love. There's such a confusion of emotions that you realize this is how things usually are. With all these goings-on, there's one warning I must give. Bend It Like Beckham is one of those movies might be best enjoyed with the subtitles on. Sometimes, the rapid fire speaking coupled with some of the so called "lower" dialects, make some of the funny lines a little hard to comprehend.

I must reveal my bias before I go any further: I really dig watching both Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley. Nagra in particular seems like a completely wonderful discovery. She manages to evoke a lot of emotion out of what would otherwise be a fairly typical sports-underdog movie. This all comes with the wonderful fact that she's incredibly easy on the eyes. It's no real surprise that she's been snatched up by ER for their upcoming season.

Do you know how these movies usually end? Sure. Feel good movies such as this have a predictable ebb and flow, but that's not to say that it's not a lot of fun. There's a lot of surprises, a gaggle of lovely leads and some very funny dialogue. It's the perfect movie to pick if you just want to have some fun.

Movie Grade: A

Video: 4 out of 5
The only caveat: British films always have a slightly desaturated thing going on. In this case, I'm guessing that it's not due to the source material (which was film), but the video transfer. But unless you're an annoying jerk like me, you’d never notice. It's free of grain and looks nice and bright.
Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1

Audio: 3 out of 5
Mostly what's filling the channels is music, so the rears are very active.
English (Dolby 5.1), French (Dolby 5.1), Spanish (Dolby 2.0)