"A Look Back at 'Bend It Like Beckham' in honor of David Beckham's 50th birthday

Jael Rucker

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"A Look Back at 'Bend It Like Beckham' in honor of David Beckham's 50th birthday image

Today is David Beckham’s 50th birthday, so it’s time to celebrate the greatest movie of all time, "Bend it Like Beckham," of course.

Released in 2002, the film is a sports comedy that stars Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra as two teenagers who are passionate about football. Jess (Nagra) isn’t supported by her parents when it comes to her football interests, as they instead prefer she focus on school. Jules Paxton (Knightly), is a local member of a women’s amateur football team that invites Jess to try out for her squad. Since Jess isn’t allowed to play, she has to move in secrecy and be on the team behind her parents’ back, which, as you can imagine, is an adventure. And yes, both David and Victoria make cameo appearances.

First released in the UK and then the U.S. one year later, "Bend It Like Beckham" was a sleeper hit, grossing £11 million in the UK, which made it one of the highest-grossing Black/Asian-themed British films at that time.

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In the U.S., the film grossed $32.5 million, making it the highest-grossing Indian-themed film in the United States. And at the time of its release, "Bend It Like Beckham" became the highest-grossing association football-themed sports film in the United States.

Time has also been kind to the movie, with one Rotten Tomatoes reviewer saying, "For any film to be a great sports film it must have staying power, beyond ample training montages and a great comeback game. "Bend It Like Beckham" has all of that in spades and more." Another reviewer adds, "An unashamedly feel-good soccer comedy that is sharper than Cristiano Ronaldo's latest haircut, has better vision than your average linesman and is more uplifting than winning on penalties in extra time."

Happy 50th David Beckham!

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Jael Rucker

Jael Rucker has worked as the Associate Commerce Editor at PureWow, focusing on analytics and trends to pitch stories and optimize articles that build and engage their audience. Her work has also been seen in Footwear News and WWD. Prior to 2024, she was the style and pop culture editor at ONE37pm for over three years, contributing numerous product reviews, brand profiles and fashion trend reports, which included interviewing Steph Curry, Snoop Dogg and more.