Beckham review: Kick-about with Becks? Nah - The Jewish Chronicle

Beckham,
Netflix | ★★★✩✩

I’ve always felt a bit antagonistic about football and its surrounding bumf, but have at the same time had a bit of soft spot for David Beckham as a person.

His longevity in popular culture? The unfairness of the frenzied public response to that World Cup foul? His pride in his Jewish heritage? Or just because he’s so darn handsome?

Beckham limited Series Credit Netfli (10)

The young Becks (Photo: Netflix)

But having now seen all four episodes of Beckham, I’ve had a bit of a switcheroo. Director Fisher Stevens does his best, and from photos of the former footballer’s father buying him a Man United kit on his birthdays to footage of his childhood matches, he has certainly been handed good material.

There are also clips from what now feel rather poignant documentaries about the Spice Girls and Stevens also had access to all the key figures in Beckham’s life: family, friends, managers and players.

The stars, though, are the Beckhams themselves and each episode is framed around brief vignettes of their present lives.

This serves to humanise the couple who, even with their fame and wealth, still needle and tease each other like any other husband and wife. Stevens, fresh from his recent stint on Succession, is I’m sure all too aware of the need to capture life beyond the paparazzi lens, having been Michelle Pfeiffer’s long-term partner in the 1990s.