Next Goal Wins review

NEXT GOAL WINS: 

A WELL-INTENTIONED BUT CLUMSY SPORTS COMEDY-DRAMA FROM TAIKA WAITITI! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

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One of the worst football teams in the world is about to show them what they’re made of in Next Goal Wins

 

            A Dutch American football (soccer) coach leads one of the worst teams of all time to victory in Next Goal Wins, the new film from Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) based on the true story of Thomas Rongen and the American Samoa national football team. I’m no expert on the real-life events the film was based on, so I won’t be able to determine how accurate the movie is to what actually happened. 

            I went into it as an admirer of Taika Waititi’s work, Thor: Love and Thunder notwithstanding. With the exception of that, I loved just about every movie he made from What We Do in the Shadows to Jojo Rabbit, so I was looking forward to seeing his next film…that didn’t involve turning the God of Thunder into a complete joke. 

            Well, I can say that after much anticipation, Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins is…a huge disappointment. The film is well-intentioned, and its heart is in the right place, but the inconsistent tone, awkward humor, and overall clumsy execution keep it from reaching its goal. 

            The film follows Dutch American football coach, Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender-X-Men franchise, 12 Years a Slave, Steve Jobs) given the option of being fired due to his angry outbursts or to accept an almost impossible task of converting the American Samoa national team, often considered one of the worst teams of all time into an elite squad. Through overcoming several roadblocks along the way and the courage of a fearless transgender player, Jaiyah Saelua (Newcomer, Kaimana), Thomas will transform this team of losers into champions and go for the gold at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. 

            The film also stars Oscar Kightley-Slone’s Wedding, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Moana) as Tavita, David Fane (Tongan Ninja, The Legend of Johnny Lingo, Eagle VS Shark) as Ace, Rachel House (Whale Rider, Moana, Soul) as Ruth, Beulah Koale (One Thousand Ropes, Thank You for Your Service, Hawaii Five-0) as Daru Taumua, Will Arnett (Arrested Development, Blades of Glory, The Lego Movie franchise) as Alex Magnussen, Elisabeth Moss (Girl, Interrupted, Us, The Invisible Man (2020)) as Gail, Uli Latukefu (Marco Polo, Alien: Covenant, Black Adam) as Nicky Salapu, Rhys Darby (What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Jumanji 2 and 3) as Rhys Marlin, Angus Sampson (Insidious franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road, Mortal Kombat (2021)) as Angus Bendleton, Luke Hemsworth (Neighbours, Westworld, Thor 3 and 4) as Keith, Kaitlyn Dever (The Spectacular Now, Short Term 12, Booksmart) as Nicole, Frankie Adams (Shortland Streets, The Expanse, Mortal Engines) as Frangipani, and Waititi as the film’s narrator and an American-Samoan priest. 

            Overall, Next Goal Wins has its moments and for the most part the cast does an admirable job with the material given to them, but the film itself feels very confused in what it’s trying to be. It has a very comedic tone with a lot of jokes and humor, but other times it seems like it’s trying to be important and mean something to the point where it loses focus and doesn’t really succeed at being funny or inspiring.

            Some of the humor I found genuinely funny, I didn’t bust a gut at any of it, but I got a few laughs every now and then. There were a lot of misses though, they weren’t bad Happy Madison movie level or anything like that, but a lot of the jokes were very awkward, could have been timed much better, or just flat-out distracting from the main story (They reference the particular set of skills monologue from Taken and rehash the speech from Any Given Sunday). 

            I feel like this movie was trying to do what films like Cool Runnings or Bend it Like Beckham did without fully understanding why those movies worked. Because you actually got to know the players and their storylines which made them more relatable, and you connected with those characters. 

            Aside from the transgender player, nobody on the team really stands out and there’s barely enough time devoted to them which was a serious miscalculation on Waititi’s part. If you want us to be invested and moved by a sports biopic (or sports movie in general), have us care about the players on the team and what they’re going through. 

            The only scene I thought was very heartfelt and effective throughout the film was this pep talk between the coach and the transgender player in the bathroom. It was a touching little moment that could almost have saved the movie if the rest of the film had more scenes like this. 

            Despite its confused execution, the performances are solid, Michael Fassbender has already proven himself to be a strong leading man and he is giving his all here. Kaimana is a huge standout as Jaiyah who’s pretty much the emotional highlight of the film, hopefully she’ll go on to star in other projects. 

            Next Goal Wins had good intentions and it seemed like the cast and crew enjoyed working on it, unfortunately it turned out an underwhelming and inconsistent sports movie that tries to throw everything at the screen, but very little of it sticks. It’s hard to be angry at a film like this as it came from a good place, but that doesn’t make the finished project good.