Critic's Grade: B-

Something of a British alternative to American films like "Drumline," "Bring It On," and any number of sports-oriented coming-of-age flicks, "Bend It Like Beckham" tackles familiar subjects aimed at teens, and does so in a way that doesn't speak down to them. It knows its target audience, and what they're looking for: something they can relate to in characters with whom they can identify on multiple levels. The film is brought to the screen with a lot of love by its makers, and since its UK release has garnered endless notoriety on both sides of the Atlantic, managing to more than triple its budget in its home country while making more than $30 million domestically even with a limited release schedule. In its own quiet way, and for many of its fans, it was this year's answer to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

So why didn't I have a good time? What was it about this breezy, feel-good, girl-power comedy that just didn't strike the nerve I thought it would? Honestly, I just don't know. The plot is pretty straightfoward in its dealings with various teenage issues: controlling parents, confronting one's heritage in the pursuit of personal goals and dreams, and finding one's sense of belonging in a world where satisfying both sides of an argument seems impossible. The main character, Jesminder (Parminder K. Nagra), embodies all of these dilemnas: she's a British-born Indian girl who has a dream of going on to become a world-famous football player (or, as we refer to it, soccer). Her parents, however, have a different objective, as seen through her mother's repeated attempts to teach her daughter the ways of the Indian wife. Her father, although a bit more open to changes in custom, is led around by his wife on the leash of matrimony, and thus remains silent in these matters.

Things take a sharp turn when Jess meets Juliette (Keira Knightley, better known as the buxom beauty from "Pirates of the Caribbean"), a member of the local girls' team who invites her out for a day of practice, where the team's coach, Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), takes an interest in her as well as her impressive field maneuvers. Given the fact that her parents are already averse to her going out for the team, Jess knows that bringing home a non-Indian for dinner might not be the best move. What's a girl to do?

If you're familiar with the standard progression of events in films of this sort, then you know where things will eventually end up. Not that "Bend It Like Beckham" doesn't throw a few surprises our way every now and then, none more amusing (and ultimately disappointing) than Juliette's mother (Juliet Stevenson), who begins to suspect her daughter of being a lesbian. Those of you familiar with Stevenson's body of work will recall her similar performance in the gay film "Food of Love," in which she played a mother grappling with her son's homosexuality. The comedic elements of her character here are quite funny, but as the film winds down to its conclusion, it becomes rather tiresome and remote.

And then there's the predictable nature of the material, which is pretty much a given considering the type of movie this is, but remains nonetheless a bit off-putting. Take, for instance, the moment when Juliette exits from a club to find Joe and Jess in a suggestive embrace; feeling that her friend has stabbed her in the back, she becomes angry and storms off. The film would have done better to simply leave this aspect out of the picture entirely; it feels more like a stepping stone to get us to the next scenes than anything else. I'm reminded of a moment in last year's "Real Women Have Curves," in which the main character and a longtime male acquaintance have sex, after which she decides that it's best if they remain friends when she leaves for college. In any other movie (this one, for instance, even though no one has sex here), the character would become instantly attached, and make all sorts of promises like "I'll wait for you" and "I know we have something together." With "Beckham," we think the story will take a bold, different turn, but the final moments reverse all of that, and the end result, while sweet in a saccharine sort of way, is altogether unnecessary.

The acting is good for this sort of film, with Nagra turning is a very well-rounded performance playing an 18-year-old, when she herself was in her mid-twenties during filming in 2001. And kudos to Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, who makes for an engaging support beam on which Jess finds herself continually resting. Their performances are in service of characters who are not that unfamiliar, but have certain perks that keep things interesting enough to warrant the film's running time. There are good forces at work in "Bend It Like Beckham" that are easy to spot, but much like my reaction to "Drumline," I wasn't as fascinated by it as I would have liked.

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