The beautiful game is rarely put on screen with any success. Despite being the most popular sport in the world, it doesn’t translate well into movie magic. Boxing has the Rocky films, baseball has Bull Durham, even rugby has Invictus, while football has… Goal!. It’s a tricky sport to attempt, mainly because of the fluidity of play, and if any lesson has been learnt over the years it is to limit the actual football action involved. That’s not to say that it shouldn’t be attempted, it is a vast market to tap into. Step in current Hollywood favourite Taika Waititi who, unfortunately, fails to score in this lacklustre sports comedy, Next Goal Wins.
The latest Waititi feature marks an underdog film in the mould of Cool Runnings (a washed-up star of a sport comes to coach the hopeless team in a small country) minus quality and originality. That’s not to say there are no good points, some parts elicit a smile or at best a chuckle, but tonally the film feels all over the place. Michael Fassbender stars as Thomas Rongen, an alcoholic coach infamous for his temper and suffering disappointment in his career in the MLS. Given the choice between “no job” and coaching the worst international football team in the world, Rongen reluctantly chooses employment.
The team in question is American Samoa, a laughing stock due to a 31-0 loss to Australia in 2001 – the heaviest-ever defeat in an international football match. Rongen finds himself out of his depth with a profoundly bad team whose cultural differences he can’t seem to grasp. Fortunately, through the supportive Jaiyah (Kaimana) and the optimistic Tavita (Oscar Kightley), Rongen comes to learn about the people he is coaching and their customs, eventually culminating in his redemption and the first-ever victory for American Samoa. It’s a tried and tested template, and the likelihood is you could have guessed the plot from a brief synopsis – which is the film’s biggest problem. It isn’t funny enough, nor moving enough, to quite distinguish itself from all the other underdog sports films that have come before.
Lacking uniqueness would be fine if the film was strong in its own right, which sadly it isn’t. The problem with this niche “underdog sports comedy” genre is that there is little room for manoeuvre, which means any filmmaker seeking to make a mark will rely on exceptional writing, performances, and audience goodwill. There are references to other films such as Any Given Sunday as though the self-awareness can be a substitute for a new take on the genre, but these end up feeling lazy, like placeholder dialogue they forgot to fill. Fassbender doesn’t quite pull off his first comedic role, though his natural charisma prevents you from straight-up disliking his prickly character.
He seems to be straining to remember that he’s in a comedy while trying to lend the gravitas required to his character’s arc. The actors who portray the team are good, though their roles feel diminished and undeveloped. A perfect example of this is Daru (Beulah Koale), who initially distrusts Rongen (though it’s never clear why) and you feel there may be some conflict, but this is quickly resolved later in the film as if the writers remembered they needed to close that loop before proceeding to the ending, rather than producing any meaningful payoff. This laziness, combined with the genuine tragedy at the heart of Rongen’s story, creates a jumbled and tonally confusing film which ultimately proves forgettable.
Fortunately, for those genuine football fans curious about this story, the film is based on a 2014 documentary of the same name by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison. This provides a more generous portrayal of both Rongen and the Samoans, as well as providing more insight into how the team achieved the seemingly impossible. There was certainly a Hollywood story in this tale, but perhaps on this occasion it was best left in its original format.
