Next Goal Wins
2023
**
Director: Taika Waititi
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House, Beulah Koale, Will Arnett, Elisabeth Moss, Taika Waititi, Bauiri Fatialofa
Following a series of humiliating defeats, the American Samoa national football team is ranked the worst side in the world. The football federation hires a down‑on‑his‑luck American coach, Thomas Rongen, to revive the team’s fortunes. This fact-based story is based on the 2014 documentary by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison. Although it was actually filmed before, Taika Waititi continues the style he established in the underwhelming Thor: Love and Thunder. That is, he feels compelled to remind us every 30 seconds that we’re watching a comedy — and yet, I’m not laughing. The premise about an incompetent amateur team coached by a man who has stopped caring has potential, but everything is cringy and disappointingly dull.
