Michael Fassbender

Oscar Kightley

Kaimana

David Fane

Rachel House

Beulah Koale

Taika Waititi

Will Arnett

Elisabeth Moss

Uli Latukefu

Sisa Grey

Semu Filipo

Chris Alosio

Lehi Makisi Falepapalangi

Ioane Goodhue

Hio Pelesasa

Wil Kahele

Rhys Darby

Luke Hemsworth

Angus Sampson

Kaitlyn Dever

Levy Tuiala

James Burghardt

Patrick Mullen

Jonathan J.I. Knox

Loretta Ables Sayre

Don Nahaku

Lori Pelenise Tuisano

Tulalagalaga Tatalo Wily

Armani Makaiwa

William Chun

Roland Tupola

David Tu'itupou

Martin Tyler

Russell Satele

Michelle Chan Wong

Andrejs Prokopenko

Yana Gorskaya

Frances Lynn Lebar

Nicholas Monsour

Arthur B Wilson III

Natalie Bruce

Nancy Hennah

Ra Vincent

Robert Pickens

Kaikala Tamanaha

Katrin Chong

Peter Borck

Jaime Leigh McIntosh

Erica Preus

Gabby Revilla Lugo

Mary Vernieu

Sophie Alexander

Michelle Wade Byrd

Dais Kasagawa

Kristen B. Adams

David Loitz

Karen Ramirez

Nat Sanders

Tino Tanaka

Christopher J. Wood

Tom Eagles

Bradford Bell

Katie Doyle

Phil Barrie

Nohealani NihipaliDay

Stockton David Porter

Kemal Ally

Taylor Jean

Stephanie Tull

Andrew A. Falk

Richard Ruhe

Bogdan Zavarzin

Zack Earl Edwards

Vanesa Furnari

Rebecca Runyon

Jason Chen

Greg Curry

Rachel Jensen

Michael Crowe

Michelle Fowler

Ben Benesh

Andrew 'A.J.' Johnson

Michael Hertlein

Ryan A. Sullivan

Brian Tarlecki

Cyrus Apeles

Meagen Lee

Christopher Stanback

Rustam Gimadiyev

Denton Akoni Kukahiko

Austin Nelson

Joshua Algie

David V. Butler

Smokey Cloud

Hilary Bronwyn Gayle

Jerad Molkenthin

Lindsay Tessier

Judah Getz

Chris Terhune

Barb Benoit

John Rex Woodward

Johanna Bautista

Zachary Harrison

Tim Unger

Chris Birdsong

Alexander Eremin

Nigel Nally

David Presley

Chris Strauser

Josh McLaglen

Joel Erickson

Jon Campfens

Olivia Montaño

Berkley Spivey

Wendy Nomiyama

Tobi Nova

David Crans

Melinda Sue Gordon

Teddy Phu-Thanh-Danh

Michael Giacchino

Garrett Basch

Jonathan Cavendish

Iain Morris

Mike Brett

Steve Jamison

Andy Serkis

Kathryn Dean

Will Tennant

Miyako Bellizzi

Lachlan Milne

Jennifer Iacobino

Comedy

Drama

Next Goal Wins

The Imaginarium

Searchlight Pictures

TSG Entertainment

Garrett Basch Productions

Defender Films

Archer's Mark

New Zealand

United Kingdom

United States of America

English

world cup

based on true story

coach

football (soccer)

aftercreditsstinger

indigenous community

transphobia

transgender

based on documentary

Chris Sawin

A story with all the proper beats lives here, even if the film rambles and tampers off into ridiculousness when it has no reason to. But even with its flaws and redundant humor fatigue, _Next Goal Wins_ stands out as Taika Waititi’s most coherent film since Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

**Full review:** https://bit.ly/dontpassgoal

CinemaSerf

If you've seen "12 Mighty Orphans" (2021) or "The Shiny Shrimps" (2019) then you'll know what to expect as Taika Waititi takes the same template and applies it to football. Here it's the adequate Michael Fassbender who gets to portray the down on his luck coach (Thomas Rongen) in this factually based story. He's not much good at his job and is temperamentally a bit unreliable, so is dispatched to coach what is officially the world's worst team. American Samoa, still smarting from a 31-0 thumping at the hands of the ever so slightly more populated Australia, has a team whose viability is under scrutiny by the parent American Federation. Can Rongen turn things around? His team are the traditionally disparate group of well-meaning, distinctly amateur, enthusiasts. Unused to any concept of team playing, co-ordination and/or training - and their new boss's predilection for a bottle or two doesn't suggest change is going to come anytime soon. Local federation boss Tavita (Oscar Kightley) manages to inspire though - and what happens now is all rather predictable, but engagingly portrayed, as the team start to realise that defeat each time is not as inevitable as they might expect. It does present us with quite an interesting look at Polynesian attitudes - ones of compassion, fairness and tolerance. Winning is important, but it's not the be all and end all; and the eventual make up of their team - and it's constituent parts - is testament to a society that has way more right than it has wrong in the way it thinks and behaves. There's loads of humour - most of which comes from an on-form Kightley, but I found that a bit weak and just a little too stereotypical (albeit from their perspective rather than the American's). The best bits are probably in the trailers, but it's still just about worth a watch - but the television will be fine.

The last chunk of the film saves it somewhat, prior to that 'Next Goal Wins' is quite poor.

I like Taika Waititi and usually dig his humour a lot, but here his comedy put into the flick just isn't all that amusing annoyingly. I'm a big football fan so knew of the real life story that this is based upon, though even as such it kinda sits in the middle of being for sports fans and being for the average moviegoer... without really committing to either, at least that's how it felt to me; it's not comedic enough or sporty enough.

I found everything until the scene with a smiley face on the whiteboard to be real lame, like nothing I was watching was entertaining me... kinda cringey, if anything. A lot of the humour up to that moment felt forced, in fact the only parts that got a chuckle out of me were the white guy jokes. Michael Fassbender isn't any good up to that point, either.

Thankfully, the conclusion is fairly feel-good and does wrap things up well - to the point it gets an extra notch up with my rating. As noted I found Fassbender average, at best... Liam Neeson might've been a better cast, especially given they allude to a past role of the Northern Irishman's at one moment. Away from the lead, other cast members do do decent - namely Oscar Kightley, Kaimana and David Fane.

It feels a touch like the filmmakers were aiming to retread the path that opened via '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Lasso" rel="nofollow">Ted Lasso</a>'. I'm not into that television show, though safe to say it does a better job... if the similarity is a fair one on my part. '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/bend-it-like-beckham/" rel="nofollow">Bend It Like Beckham</a>' is a shout also, but that comparison is probably me reaching in fairness.

Next Goal Wins( 2023)

Be happy.

Overview

Top Billed Cast

Social

A review by Chris Sawin

Written by Chris Sawin on Sat Nov 18 2023

Media

Recommendations

Facts

Status

Original Language

Budget

Revenue

Keywords