Next Goal Wins 2023

It was okay. Just okay. Nothing spectacular, nothing terrible either.

I think the same way Taika Waititi's last movie, Thor: Love and Thunder was flawed with lots and lots of cheesy often even bad jokes, Next Goal Wins is flawed. If you ask me the jokes are better than in Thor: Love and Thunder but still way to much.
The plot it self was a great "idea", if you can say so, as it is of course based on a true story.
The film still had a good entertainment value through it's cheesy jokes. Let's put it like this: I wasn't bored at the theatre.
Acting was okay i guess. The characters were okay as well. There was sadly no real good character development, of course the team's mindset and Thomas Rongen's mindset in perticular were changed throughout the film , but I still wished for a greater/better character developement than this predictable yet fair development.
One of my biggest issues with this flick is the cinematography. I mean there there were almost only medium shots or other "normal" shots in order to convey the dialogue/whats happening. There were nearly no "establishing shots" (extreme wide shots) nor any other interesting shots it was just a really boring shot movie. If Lachlan Milne was responsible for this, then I am really disappointed with his work here. If the comparatively small budget of 14 Million USD was the reason for this, the I will let it slide..

I don't want to shit talk this movie here, but these two aspects really annoyed me throughout the whole movie.
However these two aspects being bad don't mean that the whole movie is bad.
It's an "mid" movie. As I already said, nothing spectacular, nothing terrible either.
Kind of forgettable I believe.

My personal rating:
-Plot (Story Arc and Plausibility): 6/10
-Attraction (Premise & Entertainment Value): 6/10
-Theme (Identity & Depth): 5/10
-Acting (Characters & Performance): 5/10
-Dialogue (Storytelling & Context): 5/10
-Cinematography (Visual Language & Lighting, Setting, and Wardrobe): 4/10
-Editing (Pace & Effects): 4.5/10
-Soundtrack (Sound Design & Film Score): 6/10
-Directing (Vision & Execution): 5/10
-The “It” Factor (One-of-a-Kind & Transcendent): 5/10

Overall: 5/10 || 51.5/100

The problem about "nice" films and "simple" films is twofold... those adjectives sound bland and uninviting, and should you rate them highly it sets expectations that can almost never be met. But this is a nice, simple film and I loved it. Some critics have had a cra k at Taika about his cheesy sense of humour. Horses for courses. I thought he pushed too hard for cheap jokes in the Thor franchise, more as the franchise continued, but this film had a lot more heart and the cheese quota fit very well. Taika has a real skill for stillness and smallness when he decides to, like in the wonderful JoJo Rabbit. In this film, his love, pride and and comfort with Polynesian culture imbues the whole work and his eye for beauty and simplicity provide an enticing serenity. There are a lot of films about underdogs that win... and a lot about washed out coaches being assigned "loser" teams. But the individual portrayal and journey can still take us somewhere new. There IS cheese... there IS corn... but that's quite welcome in certain contexts. There's a surprising number of celebrity pal cameos, lots of silliness, an emotional gut punch you don't see coming and the whole mix is enjoyably uplifting, familial and familiar. I stuck a tear and very much enjoyed this.

Film 155 (Goal: 300) of 2024:

I generally don't like Taika Waititi films. I think he sticks to one style and his humour grating. He always takes things too far, as seen recently in the disaster that is Thor: Love and Thunder. Even his well received films, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Jojo Rabbit and What We Do in the Shadows have never landed with me.

I approached Next Goal Wins with no expectations at all. Admittedly you should approach all films like this, but easier said then done. And yes, it starts with typical Waititi - including himself in his film, and with that one note humour he always relies on.

But as the pieces of Act 1 come together, I generally found myself liking this film. It's far from perfect - but there was enough positives here that I was invested. It might have just been that it was a sports film, maybe I was invested because of Fassbender's performance, or for some other reason.

As I said, it's not without flaws. Some of the character motivations are head scratching, especially the Football Federation that attends the game towards the end. And the progress the protagonist makes feels rushed, though it's sold well by Fassbender's performance. There's a nice reveal towards the end regarding his character - and while I've seen it nearly beat for beat done before, when done well, it's always a nice addition.

Next Goal Wins isn't a great film by any stretch but considering the opinion I've had of Waititi films recently, this was surprisingly enjoyable.

The last chunk of the film saves it somewhat, prior to that 'Next Goal Wins' is quite poor.

I like Taika Waititi and usually dig his humour a lot, but here his comedy put into the flick just isn't all that amusing annoyingly. I'm a big football fan so knew of the real life story that this is based upon, though even as such it kinda sits in the middle of being for sports fans and being for the average moviegoer... without really committing to either, at least that's how it felt to me; it's not comedic enough or sporty enough.

I found everything until the scene with a smiley face on the whiteboard to be real lame, like nothing I was watching was entertaining me... kinda cringey, if anything. A lot of the humour up to that moment felt forced, in fact the only parts that got a chuckle out of me were the white guy jokes. Michael Fassbender isn't any good up to that point, either.

Thankfully, the conclusion is fairly feel-good and does wrap things up well - to the point it gets an extra notch up with my rating. As noted I found Fassbender average, at best... Liam Neeson might've been a better cast, especially given they allude to a past role of the Northern Irishman's at one moment. Away from the lead, other cast members do do decent - namely Oscar Kightley, Kaimana and David Fane.

It feels a touch like the filmmakers were aiming to retread the path that opened via 'Ted Lasso'. I'm not into that television show, though safe to say it does a better job... if the similarity is a fair one on my part. 'Bend It Like Beckham' is a shout also, but that comparison is probably me reaching in fairness.