Jess Bhamra is a young woman of British/Indian decent. She comes from a strictly traditional Sikh family where the women get married and learn how to cook. There is one thing though that makes her different from the women in her family: she can play soccer, and worships David Beckham. She is not only quick, but can outsmart her male friends in the park. This catches the eye of Jules Paxton, a local player on a amateur team. She refers her to the coach, Joe. Joe is impressed by her skills, and makes her a forward along with Jules. The two are unstoppable, and they may have a chance to play in the States for a university, and possibly the WUSA (which has folded at the time of this writing). Jess has to hide the fact she is playing soccer from her mother and family. Indian customs and traditions collide with the love for the beautiful game. Jess must decide what is more important to her and see that her family can handle the decision she makes.

The DVD is packed with extras: 10 deleted scenes, commentary from the director and writer (which i'll have to wait and listen to when I buy the DVD), trailers, a music video, a "making of" feature, and a bit where the director cooks an Aloo Gobi.

It was very well directed and well acted. I laughed at many of the moments.

The cast was mostly made up of unknowns, but they were far from a letdown. In my opinion, the two leads (Parminder K. Nagra and Keira Knightley) have a big future ahead of them. The only other two names I knew were Pooja Shah (Meena) and Ameet Chana, who shined as Tony.

If you like soccer, watch this film. If you don't like soccer, watch it anyway. It is a good film that will put you in a good mood.

Final verdict: A goal scoring, crowd pleaser of a film. The story may be run of the mill, but the director pulls it off in style. The acting is also to thank for that. When the U.S. distributors wanted this film, they wanted to retitle it "Move It Like Mia" (as in Mia Hamm) since David Beckham is only known to a handful of people in the States. I think that wouldn't have worked since Hamm is not the dominant force in the lead character's life. It was an irresistible and fun movie. For me, it lived up to the hype.

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Created Oct 20, 2003 at 4:20pm • Submit your own review...