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Bend It Like Beckham
This feel-good teen-oriented comedy drama from Bhaji on the Beach director Gurinder Chadha has two things going for it, besides its opportunistic title: it's set in the world of female football (hardly a subject that's been done to death at the cinema) and against a background of intransigent first-generation Indian tradition in suburban Britain — giving it the flavour of the superior East Is East. Newcomer Parminder Nagra is skilled in both acting and ball-control as the teenager who "worships" at her shrine to England captain David Beckham. It's the crushing predictability of the footballing storyline (nail-biting finish resting on a penalty kick, anyone?) and her wooden co-star Keira Knightley that let her down. Clashes between Indian and English culture are played with knowing humour, and Juliet Stevenson is hugely entertaining as a Hounslow mum, but too much of the plot hinges on misunderstanding and if you're over 17, you may find the romance a little fluffy.
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