Bend It Like Beckham
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: March 12, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen 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. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Terrifically fun entertainment; wonderfully shot and acted, instilled with spirit and life and able to woo us with its exhuberant freshness. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Pure, undiluted joy. Read full review
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Terrifically charming and energetic film. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia 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. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
A joyful celebration of spirit and endurance. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe 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.
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
There's a great sense of fun in the cultural collision between Indian and British lifestyles -- often within the same person. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
Bright, lively and liberating movie. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Smart, lively and altogether warmhearted dramatic comedy. Read full review
80
Washington PostRita 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. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Energetic, eager-to-please culture-clash comedy. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The feel-good movie of a feel-blah movie year, with all the positive qualities and one negative trait that this description implies. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Writer-director Gurinder Chadha juggles all the angles with flair and fairness. Like Nagra and Knightley, the movie is a sweetheart. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Enjoyable enough that the sprinkles of artificial sweetness in the mix don't do lasting or irreparable damage. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy 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. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene 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. Read full review
70
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
The portrait of traditional Indian life Chadha provides manages to mine laughs from characters without resorting to making them laughable. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Enjoyably shameless confection. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Fine character work by Juliet Stevenson, Archie Panjabi, and Bollywood regular Anupam Kher make this well worth seeing. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)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. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubNathan 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. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMark 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. Read full review
63
New York PostMegan 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. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Lightweight, thoroughly charming fluff. Read full review
60
SlateDavid 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. Read full review
60
Film ThreatDarrin 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. Read full review
60
VarietyDerek 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. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami 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. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Bend It Like Beckham is supposedly a movie about youth; its biggest shortcoming is that it rarely feels young. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid 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. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc 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. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Routine, genial sports movie. Read full review
50
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Its cheery inoffensiveness, though, is in some ways disappointing. Read full review
20
Village VoiceJessica Winter
Only silent Becks himself rises unstained from this reheated ethno-niche stew. Read full review
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