Next Goal Wins (2023)

This comedic retelling of a true-life underdog sporting story has its heart in the right place, and its dry sense of humour smooths over the more predictable plot elements and a couple of tonally jarring moments.

Premise:  After suffering the most humiliating defeat in international football history (a 31-0 defeat to Australia), the American Samoa soccer team set themselves a simple objective – score one goal in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.  To help them, they recruit Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender), a down on his luck alcoholic football coach who is looking for a way back to the big leagues after separating from his wife (Elisabeth Moss).

Review:

I should mention up front that I’ve not seen the 2014 documentary Next Goal Wins, which was the inspiration for this fictionalised comedic retelling of the true story of the American Samoa football team.  If you’ve seen the original documentary, I can’t imagine that this movie adaptation will have much to offer you, given that you’ll already know what happens, and you’ll most likely spend the film bumping up against all of the narrative changes made by the filmmakers.  But if, like me, you haven’t seen the documentary – and if you’re openminded about the fact that the movie makes it clear that it’s only inspired by the true story and it’s clearly trying to be its own, stylised, comedic take on the source material – then there’s a lot to enjoy in this warm-hearted comedy.

The comedy can be a little broad at times (director and co-writer Taika Waititi’s cameo as a local preacher is particularly over-the-top), but it’s all fairly good-natured, as is the film itself.  Without getting into the specifics of the “plot” (given that I knew nothing about the true-life events before watching this movie), it’s fair to say that the film is a feel-good, uplifting movie, focusing on the spirit of the American Samoan community as it supports its football team’s attempts to no longer be ranked as the worst soccer team in the world.

“…a funny, entertaining & ultimately uplifting movie…”

Although the tone of the film remains light throughout, it does touch on some fascinating real life events, including Jaiyah Saelua (Kaimana) becoming the first transgender player to compete in a World Cup qualifier game.  And although I can’t speak to the accuracy of Michael Fassbender‘s performance as Thomas Rongen, it was certainly an engaging comedic performance that allowed Fassbender to display his more humorous side (that doesn’t often get seen, for example, in more intense films like The Killer).

Overall, Next Goal Wins is unlikely to blow you away – but it’s a funny, entertaining and ultimately uplifting movie that you don’t need any knowledge of, or affection for, football to enjoy.  It can be a bit cheesy at times, but it’s also perhaps not as cheesy as you might be expecting – and the cast of eccentric and warm-hearted characters help to ground the film’s central message … that having fun can be more important in life than winning.