Taika Waititi’s latest filmNext Goal Winshas already debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the first reviews are in, anticipating a new funny and emotional story fromThor: Love and Thunderdirector, but not his best.
The film, which is based on a true story, follows soccer coach Thomas Rongen on his difficult task of leading American Samoa national team to victory.Next Goal Winsstars Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House, Beulah Koale, Will Arnett, and Elisabeth Moss.
The movie was recently delayed from September 22 to November 17, due to the current strikes at Hollywood. However, now that the movie has officially debuted at TIFF, the first reviews have finally surfaced online, and although they are not bad, this may not be Waititi’s most acclaimed work.
The New Zealand filmmaker has delivered some very interesting titles throughout his career, not only by joining theMCUinThor: Ragnarok,and returning forthe fourth movie centered on the God of Thunder, but also with dark comedies and satires likeWhat We Do in the ShadowsorJojo Rabbit.
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Next Goal Wins Is a Decent Sports Comedy
The initial reviews for Next Goal Wins have certainly not been as scathing as some of those for Thor: Love & Thunder, but they fall quite a way short of the best movies of the directors career. Among the first wave of reviews,Ross Bonaime from Collidernoted that Taika Waititi’s newest offering is not his worst, but also doesn’t score a winning goal:
“Waititi’s latest isn’t bad by any stretch, and isn’t close to his worst (again, Love and Thunder, watch your ass), but as a sports film and a comedy, it is fairly average. Which, let’s be fair, with uplifting sports movies, who’s truly looking for a film that shakes things up and breaks the mold? And if that’s the cup of tea you want to try, Next Goal Wins will likely hit the spot at least occasionally. But considering this was the film made by Waititi after winning the Oscar for Jojo Rabbit, Next Goal Wins too often feels more like a penalty than a score.”
For Variety’s Peter Debruge, the movie is fun but predictable:
“You do not go to a movie called Next Goal Wins to be surprised. In fact, if you have ever seen a movie before, you have already seen Next Goal Wins. That movie doesn’t even have to be Next Goal Wins, the 2014 documentary on which Waititi and co-writer Iain Morris based their remake. Maybe you’ve seen The Mighty Ducks. Or Major League. Heck, even if the only film you’ve ever seen is The Human Centipede, you may figure out where Next Goal Wins is going.”
Lovia Gyarkye from The Hollywood Reporterbelieves the filmmaker didn’t take any risks, which is unusual for him:
“By the time the film gets to its third act, in which the players play the game of their lives, our patience has been tested. Next Goal Wins doubtless thinks it’s doing good by this story of a team genuinely worth rooting for. If only Waititi had been willing to risk leaving it all on the field.”
