40 Days and 40 Nights

Despite an amazing hit rate with the chicks, Matt (Josh Hartnett) can't get over his last girlfriend. In desperation he decides to give up sex for Lent. That's 40 days with absolutely no sex at all.

Trouble is, just a day or so into his chastity marathon, he meets Erica (Shannyn Sossamon), who turns out to be the girl of his dreams. Stupidly he doesn't tell her about his vow. with hilarious consequences.

Mmm.

But against all the odds, Michael Lehmann's film is laced with funny moments and goes about its business with such verve and vigour that it's hard (no pun intended) not to like the little fella.

Hartnett climbs over a natural inclination to look and act like a buffoon (oh, you saw Pearl Harbor as well then) and Sossamon displays the easy charm that helped haul A Knight's Tale out of the mire of dire.

Support from old stagers Griffin Dunne and Barry Newman, as well as new kids like Paulo Costanzo (Road Trip) and Vinessa Shaw (Eyes Wide Shut) means there's plenty going on when the stars are off-screen. And a well chosen soundtrack will more than please the 15 to 24-year-old target audience.

40 Days and 40 Nights (15) is at the Picture House every day until Wednesday.

Nick Churchill

Bend It like Beckham

With luck this charming film will do similar, hopefully better, business than fellow Brit comedies Bridget Jones' Diary and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

It has something for almost every type of filmgoer - drama, comedy, love and football.

And while there are no plane crashes or gun battles, the dramatic action should still be enough to keep everyone on the edge of their seats.

It follows 18-year-old Jess (Parminder Nagra), a girl who dreams of being a professional footballer. She joins the local women's club and falls in love with her coach (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) - all to the displeasure of her Indian family who want her to go to university and marry a nice, professional man.

Thrown into the mix are her footballing chums Jules (Keira Knightley), who also fancies the coach, and team captain Mel, played by ex-All Saints singer Shaznay Lewis.

Culture clash is certainly not an original subject for a British film, however director and writer Gurinder Chadha, who previously made Bhaji on the Beach and What's Cooking, takes a refreshing look at the issue.

The film will undoubtedly be compared with East is East due to the subject matter. However, while it shares that film's strengths - insightful humour and strong acting - it lacks the weaknesses, the stereotypes and pretension.

Gone are the rundown urban settings that typify its contemporaries. Gone are the stereotypical race-hate authorities and oppressive parents. Gone are the forlorn heroes and heroines struggling against adversity.

Instead we have the story of a teenager, probably the story of all teenagers, as she battles with her parents over her future. Her race is the background to the story, not the story itself.

Along the way, she learns to perfect Beckham's curvaceous free-kick style, falls in love, has fun and encounters the ups and downs of life as an 18-year-old.

Bend it like Beckham (12) is at Keighley Picture House until Wednesday.

Simon Pluckrose

Tom Cruise is gunning for the bad guys in the latest movie from Steven Spielberg.

But in the futuristic thriller Minority Report he discovers the bad guy is himself.

Cruise plays a copper who, with the help of a supercomputer, apprehends murderers before they commit crime.

Minority Report begins at the Picture House next Thursday.

Spiderman (12) is continues twice daily at the picture house, plus weekend afternoons.

Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron (U) is on screen twice tomorrow and Sunday afternoons.