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Product Details
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Parminder Nagra stars as Jess, a Londoner of Indian descent who has loved playing soccer (or football, to the rest of the world) all her life. She lives and breathes her sport, so much so that every night she tells all her hopes and dreams to a giant poster of British soccer phenom David Beckham that hangs above her bead. Her parents, though, are less than approving, and when Jess uncovers a female soccer team that is willing to let her play in "real matches" she must weigh fulfilling her dreams against tearing her family apart. There is also the matter of her gorgeous Irish coach (Jonathan Rhys-Myers) and her new best friend (Keira Knightly); two girls and one cute guy can sometimes cause problems.
The script is more deeply layered than you might expect; I especially liked the interaction between Jess and her parents. Jess' mom is horrified by her daughter's passion because she feels nice Indian girls should be thinking of marriage and not "running around half naked in front of men", but her father for a subtler reason; he still remembers when he came to England and was not allowed to play cricket because of his race. He cannot bear the idea of sport breaking Jess' heart too.
In the center of the story is Jessminder Bhamra (Parminder Nagra), a young Indian girl living in England who desperately wants to be a football (soccer) player. On the one hand, she is incredibly talented, but on the other, she has very traditional parents who believe that Jess should (a) go to university, (b) become a solicitor, and (c) marry a nice Indian boy. But Jess has dreams of her own and when she is approached by Jules Paxton (Keira Knightley) while playing soccer with the boys at a local park, she secretly joins Jules' local all-girls "football" team. Jules and Jess become close friends but conflicts arise when both girls fall for the same boy - their coach Joe (the handsome Jonathan Rhys-Meyers).
There are many, many highlights to this film. First of all, it is incredibly entertaining and funny. There are definitely parallels to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" as Jess' family life is thrown into chaos as they plan for her sister Pinky's "big fat Indian wedding" (complete with quirky, colorful relatives and friends).
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