‘Next Goal Wins’ is Fine
An interesting story that doesn’t quite land.
After losing a soccer game 31–0, the national team of American Samoa gets a new coach in the hopes of doing the impossible: scoring a goal.
This is a great premise for a movie. It has all of the elements of a feel-good sports movie! You have some down-on-their-luck underdogs who no one believes in. You have a coach who has been fired and is looking for redemption and peace after his world has spiraled out of control. And you have a sport that many people around the world love.
This should be a recipe for success, but somehow, Next Goal Wins manages to fumble.
Before we go any further, I must give the caveat that Taika Waititi’s humor is pretty hit or miss for me. I loved Jojo Rabbit, but haven’t connected with many of Waititi’s other films the same way. So, if you’re a fan of his humor and his style of storytelling, this film might work better for you than it did for me.
Still, even with my hesitation about Waititi’s humor, there are moments in Next Goal Wins that I think are brilliant. When Rongen (Michael Fassbender) is fired from coaching an American soccer team, the head of the league Alex (Will Arnett) and his underlings discuss the different stages of grief. They frame Rongen’s reactions through this framework in a…
