Bend It Like Beckham

This is one of those movies that I have been meaning to watch for several years now and just haven't got around too. The spark that lit the fuse and made me finally watch it was the new action movie "From Paris With Love." The common theme between the two is Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I had been told that I wasn't allowed to judge JRM by "From Paris With Love" and that if I wanted to see him in a better role I had to see him in "BILB." I used this opportunity to backlog while judging this theory.
The movie is a feel good British minority overcoming the obstacles tale. The main character is a Indian girl who wants to play soccer but her dream conflicts with her parents wishes for her to become a proper marriageable Indian woman. Her best friend (Kiera Knightly with her butch haircut) is a white woman who similarly faces the challenge of playing soccer despite the fact that social norms dictate she should be more feminine. JRM plays their soccer coach who had a chance at being something special before injuries sidelined his future and sent him down the coaching path. He, being open minded and modern thinking, realizes that the girls deserve a chance to play soccer too. The three characters form a silly love triangle that does nothing more than upset the viewer and detract from the overall story. In the end everyone finds happiness and Kiera Knightly forgets that she is also in love with her coach and allows her best friend to have at him despite the fact that their "relationship" doesn't start until moments before she leaves England to accept her scholarship thousands of miles away in America.
Did I love this movie? Simply no. Would I watch it again? Probably not. Does this mean I hated it? No. I liked it but it was nothing special. I thought the story was kinda lame and predictable and the title of the movie served only to attract people to this film by linking it falsely with the former British footballer.
On the JRM issue I found that I disagreed with my friend. I think that JRM was a whiny bitch in this movie and that his motives were untrue and that his acting did nothing for me besides make me feel slightly creeped out. I prefer his role and acting in FPWL.