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34
10,000 B.C.
55
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62
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36
College Road Trip
xx
Dark Knight, The
31
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41
Drillbit Taylor
57
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67
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
54
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49
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34
Happening, The
57
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
xx
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71
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61
Incredible Hulk, The
65
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79
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35
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73
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24
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37
Made of Honor
xx
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58
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48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
55
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22
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69
Redbelt
44
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53
Sex and the City: The Movie
76
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37
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37
Speed Racer
61
Stop Loss
47
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55
Street Kings
33
Superhero Movie
93
WALL-E
64
Wanted
36
What Happens in Vegas...
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
93
WALL-E
79
Iron Man
76
Shine a Light
73
Kung Fu Panda
71
Horton Hears a Who!
69
Redbelt
67
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
Wanted
62
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The
61
Stop Loss
61
Incredible Hulk, The
58
Mist, The
57
Forbidden Kingdom, The
57
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
55
Street Kings
55
Nim's Island
55
Baby Mama
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
53
Sex and the City: The Movie
49
Hancock
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
47
Strangers, The
44
Ruins, The
41
Drillbit Taylor
37
Made of Honor
37
Shutter
37
Speed Racer
36
College Road Trip
36
What Happens in Vegas...
35
Jumper
34
Happening, The
34
10,000 B.C.
33
Superhero Movie
31
Deception
24
Love Guru, The
22
Postal
xx
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
xx
Mamma Mia!
xx
Dark Knight, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

83
Alexandra
80
Band's Visit, The
76
Beauty in Trouble
47
Bella
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
59
Blind Mountain
55
Bra Boys
60
Brick Lane
70
Caramel
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
83
Chop Shop
83
Chris & Don. A Love Story
78
Counterfeiters, The
52
Diminished Capacity
64
Dreams with Sharp Teeth
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
84
Edge of Heaven, The
52
Elsa & Fred
79
Encounters at the End of the World
62
Expired
64
Fall, The
51
Finding Amanda
57
Flawless
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
63
Foot Fist Way, The
60
Fugitive Pieces
45
Full Grown Men
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
69
Go-Getter, The
74
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
63
Gunnin for that #1 Spot
68
Heartbeat Detector
34
Holding Trevor
68
Honeydripper
55
Irina Palm
69
Jellyfish
60
Jihad for Love, A
68
Kabluey
62
Kiss the Bride
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
82
Last Mistress, The
38
Life Before Her Eyes, The
70
Love Songs
64
Married Life
30
Meet Bill
33
Miss Conception
53
Mister Lonely
75
Mongol
52
Mother of Tears, The
52
My Blueberry Nights
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
84
My Winnipeg
61
On the Rumba River
69
Operation Filmmaker
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83
Paranoid Park
72
Priceless
51
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55
Quid Pro Quo
29
Red Roses and Petrol
79
Reprise
71
Roman de gare
56
Sangre de mi sangre
51
Savage Grace
76
Shotgun Stories
66
Son of Rambow
70
Standard Operating Procedure
62
Stuck
72
Surfwise
81
Tell No One
56
Then She Found Me
xx
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
71
To the Limit
54
Tracey Fragments, The
70
Trumbo
72
Tuya's Marriage
83
U2 3D
56
Unknown Woman
86
Up the Yangtze
79
Visitor, The
62
Wackness, The
37
War, Inc.
64
Water Lilies
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
55
Without the King
72
Woman on the Beach
64
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
86
Up the Yangtze
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
84
My Winnipeg
84
Edge of Heaven, The
83
Chop Shop
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
83
Chris & Don. A Love Story
82
Last Mistress, The
81
Tell No One
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Reprise
79
Encounters at the End of the World
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Beauty in Trouble
76
Shotgun Stories
75
Young@Heart
75
Mongol
74
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Woman on the Beach
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Surfwise
71
To the Limit
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Roman de gare
70
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Trumbo
70
Love Songs
70
Caramel
69
Go-Getter, The
69
Operation Filmmaker
69
Jellyfish
68
Kabluey
68
Heartbeat Detector
68
Honeydripper
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
66
Son of Rambow
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
64
Married Life
64
Dreams with Sharp Teeth
64
XXY
64
Water Lilies
64
Fall, The
63
Foot Fist Way, The
63
Gunnin for that #1 Spot
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
62
Wackness, The
62
Stuck
62
Expired
62
Kiss the Bride
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
61
On the Rumba River
60
Fugitive Pieces
60
Brick Lane
60
Jihad for Love, A
59
Blind Mountain
57
Flawless
56
Unknown Woman
56
Then She Found Me
56
Sangre de mi sangre
55
Quid Pro Quo
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
55
Irina Palm
55
Bra Boys
55
Without the King
54
Tracey Fragments, The
53
Mister Lonely
52
Diminished Capacity
52
Elsa & Fred
52
Mother of Tears, The
52
My Blueberry Nights
51
Finding Amanda
51
Promotion, The
51
Savage Grace
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
47
Bella
45
Full Grown Men
38
Life Before Her Eyes, The
37
War, Inc.
34
Holding Trevor
33
Miss Conception
30
Meet Bill
29
Red Roses and Petrol
xx
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Bend It Like Beckham
Fox Searchlight Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language and sexual content
Starring
Parminder K. Nagra,
Keira Knightley,
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers,
Anupam Kher,
Archie Panjabi,
Shaznay Lewis,
Frank Harper,
and
Juliet Stevenson
A British film about a teenage girl named Jess (Nagra) living in London who must make a choice between following the traditions of her Indian family or pursuing her dream of becoming a soccer sensation. (Fox Searchlight)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Gurinder Chadha
Paul Mayeda Berges
Guljit Bindra
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Gurinder Chadha
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 30, 2003
Video: September 30, 2003
Theatrical: March 12, 2003
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
112 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
UK / Germany |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The most exhilarating movie so far this year. It's made up of many familiar elements -- think ''Monsoon Wedding'' meets ''My Beautiful Laundrette'' meets ''Personal Best'' -- yet before long, you catch on to how buoyant and funny and original it is.

91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Paula Nechak
Terrifically fun entertainment; wonderfully shot and acted, instilled with spirit and life and able to woo us with its exhuberant freshness.

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Pure, undiluted joy.

88
Premiere
Glenn Kenny
Terrifically charming and energetic film.

88
USA Today
Claudia Puig
The juxtaposition between the fast-paced plays on the soccer field and the color-drenched, music-infused wedding party is a highlight of this captivating film.

88
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
A joyful celebration of spirit and endurance.

88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
I saw more important films at Sundance 2003, but none more purely enjoyable than Bend It Like Beckham, which is just about perfect as a teenage coming-of-age comedy.

80
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
Bright, lively and liberating movie.

80
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Smart, lively and altogether warmhearted dramatic comedy.

80
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
There's a great sense of fun in the cultural collision between Indian and British lifestyles -- often within the same person.

80
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
You seldom leave a theater walking on air, much less float all through a movie. But the joyous Bend It Like Beckham never lets you down.

80
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
I'm still smiling as I recall Jess, the soccer star-to-be, standing behind her straitlaced mother in the kitchen and casually bouncing a head of lettuce on her knee.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
Energetic, eager-to-please culture-clash comedy.

75
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
The feel-good movie of a feel-blah movie year, with all the positive qualities and one negative trait that this description implies.

75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Enjoyable enough that the sprinkles of artificial sweetness in the mix don't do lasting or irreparable damage.

75
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
The film's most natural appeal is to adolescent athletes -- in particular, cleat-wearing young ladies who will bask in its hard-won girl-power message. This is a movie with bruised shins and a huge heart.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
As the movie breathlessly cuts back and forth from a boisterous wedding celebration to a high-stakes soccer match, even the grumpy cynics will have been won over.

75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Writer-director Gurinder Chadha juggles all the angles with flair and fairness. Like Nagra and Knightley, the movie is a sweetheart.

70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
Like the rest of the film, Beckham's climax is surprisingly satisfying, however, in large part because director Gurinder Chadha films the competing big game and big fat Indian wedding of Nagra's sister with equivalently bursting levels of color, panache, and verve.

70
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Fine character work by Juliet Stevenson, Archie Panjabi, and Bollywood regular Anupam Kher make this well worth seeing.

70
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
Every generation has to discover the same clichés that were drummed into previous generations, and kids could do worse than to learn them from this film.

70
Film Threat
Rick Kisonak
The portrait of traditional Indian life Chadha provides manages to mine laughs from characters without resorting to making them laughable.

70
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Enjoyably shameless confection.

63
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
Much of the value -- entertainment and otherwise -- of seeing a culture-specific movie is to connect with a larger world than your everyday life offers.

63
New York Post
Megan Lehmann
An energetic, feel-good blend of comedy, romance and benign drama -- with a side dish of social commentary -- that works despite its strict adherence to the culture clash/generation gap formula.

60
Variety
Derek Elley
Writer-helmer Gurinder Chadha assembles a gallery of broadly played stereotypes into a movie about social attitudes that's more rooted in small-screen sitcom than anything deeper.

60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Lightweight, thoroughly charming fluff.

60
Slate
David Edelstein
The movie isn't unwatchable. It's clumsily good-natured, the actors are appealing, and there are worse ways to spend two hours than looking at pretty young girls in shorts kicking balls. But the movie is way, way too pleased with itself.

60
Film Threat
Darrin Keene
While this film offers plenty of laughs and a cool soundtrack, it also tiptoes around complex subjects of social change and inter-racial relations.

50
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
There's nothing terribly bad about Bend It Like Beckham -- in fact it's a fine Friday-night-out film -- it's just that it strikes me as being an awful little piffle cloaked in the garb of something so much more.

50
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Bend It Like Beckham is supposedly a movie about youth; its biggest shortcoming is that it rarely feels young.

50
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Director and co-writer Gurinder Chadha continues in the vein of her previous movies, "What's Cooking?" and "Bhaji on the Beach," exploring with humor and compassion how cultures adapt in foreign climes.

50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Just a few years ago, the generally felt aspiration of ethnic groups was to blend in with the majority culture. Today it's to flourish in modern society while actively remembering old-country values...Bend It Like Beckham could cement the trend.

50
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
Its cheery inoffensiveness, though, is in some ways disappointing.

50
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Routine, genial sports movie.

20
Village Voice
Jessica Winter
Only silent Becks himself rises unstained from this reheated ethno-niche stew.


The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 81 User Votes
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