‘Next Goal Wins’ Review – A Flawed But Feel-Good Underdog Story [TIFF 2023]

When Taika Waititi last appeared at TIFF, he brought Jojo Rabbit with him, earning the 2019 People’s Choice Award before scoring an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. This time around, he delivers a less divisive, yet undeniable crowd-pleaser with Next Goal Wins.

Tonally, the film feels more aligned with his most recent work, Thor: Love and Thunder. Based on a 2014 documentary of the same name, Next Goal Wins is a dramatization of the American Samoa soccer team’s plight to rise above their humiliating 31-0 loss to Australia during the 2001 World Cup qualifying match.

The story follows psychologically flawed coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender), whose violent outbursts and unsportsmanlike behavior have made him somewhat of a pariah in the soccer world. As a result, the American football federation board officials (played by Will Arnett and Elisabeth Moss) send the Dutch coach to American Samoa to rehabilitate their losing team. After receiving word of his new assignment, Rongen undergoes the five stages of grief – a hilarious scene that sent rippling waves of laughter through the TIFF crowd.

Island life and a temperamental coach? Not a harmonious pair. Rongen struggles to empathize with the American Samoans. In his mind, they’re just a bunch of hapless losers with no real discipline or dedication to the sport. The head of the team, Tavita (a stand-out performance by Oscar Kightley) uses comical anecdotes to try and inspire the coach to put down his bottle of whiskey and truly invest in the players. His goal isn’t even to transform the losing team into a winning one, it’s simply to score ONE goal.

Like A League of Their Own or The Mighty Ducks, you don’t need to be knowledgeable – or even care about – sports to get swept up in the film’s effervescent and heartwarming narrative. Also like other sports dramas, there’s nothing inconspicuous about where the film is headed. It’s a light-hearted ride that’s enjoyable even aboard a bus adhering to the 20 mph speed limit.

Where it misfires is in its representation of Polynesian culture, whose people and traditions are wholly underserved in mainstream media, as well as its treatment of gender-fluid Jaiyah Saelua (Kaimana). Jaiyah is a female-identifying fa’afafine who became the first transgender player to compete in a World Cup Qualifier. Waititi’s handling of gender is flippant – though Kaimana delivers an admirable performance in spite of what little she has to work with. While Jaiyah doesn’t face discrimination amongst her own people, the film emphasizes her otherness and, at times, utilizes it in an attempt to evoke a few laughs along the way. It’s an ill-fated approach that flatlines in its inability to tackle fundamental conversations around hormones, identity, and the trans experience.

Written by Waititi and Iain Morris (The InBetweeners), Next Goal Wins teeters between mocking quintessential sports film tropes and employing those same cliches, fumbling the ball whenever any seeds of substance attempt to sprout leaves. Waititi undercuts emotion with cheap gags and an extraneous amount of references to other films – spanning everything from The Karate Kid to The Matrix to the infamous “I have a very particular set of skills” speech from Taken. What’s more, Fassbender (and his chilly demeanor) is a complete miscast. With no real knack for comedy, his presence evokes a persistent feeling of incongruity throughout the film.

Waititi both parodies and engages with the traditional hallmarks of a sports film – from the training montages to Rongen’s clashes with the ragtag team. While the film seeks to explore themes of community and second chances, Next Goal Wins seems unwilling to steep in the important moments, quickly glossing over opportunities to humanize its characters and play beneath the surface. Despite being messy and flawed, it’s still an underdog story rife with feel-good moments and will no doubt be a crowd-pleaser among many.

Next Goal Wins held its World Premiere as part of the Special Presentations section at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. 

Director: Taika Waititi

Writers: Taika Waititi, Iain Morris

Rated: PG-13

Runtime: 103m