Director Taika Waititi has had a career being fawned over by critics but I have not appreciated anything he has produced before. His new film, that he also co-wrote with Iain Morris has generally been panned in America, and is now released here. This story is of a coach, Thomas Rongen, taking over the American Samoa national football team which is sitting bottom of the FIFA rankings and still smarting from a record 31-0 defeat to Australia a decade earlier.
The film title refers to the team’s desire to just score a goal and there was a documentary of the same name released in 2014. Waititi’s film fictionalises some of the story and does not really add a lot. It also does not offer much insight into what Rongen did to improve performances and it often feels like the script has been dumbed down for non-football fans.
However Michael Fassbender does a decent job as Rongen and Kaimana is excellent as Jaiyah, a transgender player. There are also some amusing moments to elevate what turns out to be a pretty standard sports underdog plot.
Next Goal Wins has not made me a Waititi convert but I think it is his most watchable movie to date.
Rating: 6 out of 10