Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Beckham’ On Netflix, A Docuseries About David Beckham’s Superstar Soccer Career And Tabloid-Worthy Private Life

Beckham is a four-part docuseries, produced and directed by Fisher Stevens, that examines David Beckham’s life, from his stratospheric soccer career to his tabloid-friendly romance and marriage to his now-longtime wife Victoria. Stevens is given access to not only David and Victoria Beckham, but to David’s parents and many of his teammates from Manchester United, the Premier League team where he spent the majority of his professional soccer career, Real Madrid, the England national team, and more.

BECKHAM: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: David Beckham, wearing a beekeeper’s suit adorned with his initials, walks towards the apiary he maintains.

The Gist: The first episode starts with “The Kick”, an amazing goal from the halfway line in a 1996 match with Wimbledon. Beckham was 21 at the time and had been with the club since being recruited to join its youth team in 1991. He made the Premier League team in 1995 and flourished under Man United’s legendary manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. But that kick is what made him the megastar he continues to be 27 years later.

He spent his money on lots of expensive stuff: watches, cars, clothes, even expensive pens, as one of his teammates points out. But his working-class North London background informed his work ethic, and he would rather practice corner kicks than participate in Manchester’s well-known night life.

But when Victoria Adams — aka Posh Spice — made an appearance at a Man United game with fellow Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm in 1997, Beckham made a point of meeting her. He felt it was preordained, as he’d watch the video for “Wannabe” and say to his teammates that he’ll marry “the one in the black dress.”

The two hit it off famously and became the paparazzi’s favorite couple — Posh and Becks — causing a tabloid frenzy that hadn’t been seen since the peak days of Charles and Diana. He was all in on their relationship, to the point where he might drive the four hours from Manchester to London to see her for an hour, then drive back. The distraction didn’t seem to affect his play, but when he was named to the England national team and the country qualified for the 1998 World Cup, he was a bit dismayed that his now-fiancée was on tour. But news that he got right before England’s all-important match with bitter rival Argentina might have contributed to something he did during that game that caused him to get a red card, which means he was out of the game.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Beckham has a similar, mostly praiseworthy tone as Arnold, another recent Netflix docuseries about a megastar.

Our Take: Beckham isn’t exactly a hagiography, but it’s not exactly going to stir up all that much controversy, either. Perhaps it’s because Beckham himself hasn’t really gotten in a ton of trouble in his career; he and Victoria have been married for 24 years and have 4 kids together, and he continues to be an icon well into his retirement from professional soccer.

So what Stevens has to go on is showing Beckham and his family in some more intimate moments. And, to be sure, they’re cute: The apiary scene, for instance, is unexpected. A scene where he interrupts Stevens’ interview with Victoria to make sure he knows that her “working-class” father drove a Rolls in the ’80s was very “old married couple.”

And, like anyone’s career, there are going to be difficulties and ups and downs. The tabloid obsession with Posh and Becks comes into play pretty early in the episode, evidenced by the uproar when Beckham stepped out on a date with Victoria while wearing a sarong. The red card he got during the England-Argentina match at the ’98 World Cup and its aftermath is going to straddle parts 1 and 2, because the backlash Beckham got from it was intense and sent him into a depression.

But it feels like those moments are going to be just brief waystations during an examination of what is otherwise a pretty charmed life. Will that be interesting enough to sustain a docuseries that spans over four and a half hours? We doubt it.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: We see an unhappy Beckham walk through an airport after the disastrous ’98 World Cup.

Sleeper Star: Gary Neville, one of Beckham’s closed friends on Man United, is interviewed extensively in the first episode and has a lot of good insight into what Beckham was doing during his whirlwind romance of Victoria Adams.

Most Pilot-y Line: Most directors usually aren’t miked up, so if we hear their voices on camera, they’re usually muffled. Stevens, however, chose to wear a microphone — or maybe dub his voice in later — so when he asks questions, we clearly hear his distinctive voice. Let’s just say that gets old very quickly.

Our Call: STREAM IT, but only if you’re a huge fan of soccer in general or Beckham in particular. There’s lots of great footage of Beckham on and off the pitch over the past three decades and just enough personal stuff to keep viewers engaged. But don’t expect too much in the way of revelations or controversy.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.