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Next Goal Wins

Next Goal Wins

2023

Taika Waititi

Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, David Fane ...

5.5

2,408

Comedy The true story of Dutch coach Thomas Rongen, who attempts the nearly impossible task of turning the American Samoa soccer team from perennial losers into winners.

	Media	Author	Review
		Kaleem Aftab BBC	"Waititi's winning, winsome film is his most accessible and mainstream movie to date, one that successfully mixes in funny jokes with zeitgeisty social commentary (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Lovia Gyarkye The Hollywood Reporter	"The movie (...) takes pleasure in mocking sports drama tropes even though it relies on them for emotional payoffs. It’s an odd approach that results in a film that doesn’t really earn any of its grand conclusions."
		Charles Bramesco The Playlist	"Taika Waititi [has] an evident self-destructive impulse to tackle issues bigger than he can handle"
		Peter Debruge Variety	"You do not go to a movie called 'Next Goal Wins' to be surprised (...) But that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy getting on a bus doing 20 in a 35 zone, headed straight for a destination anyone can imagine a mile away."
		Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"The film is a shoddily made and strikingly unfunny attempt to tell an interesting story in an uninteresting way. (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"
		Michael O'Sullivan The Washington Post	"Silly sweetness carries this true tale to victory (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Nick Schager The Daily Beast	"At least Taika Waititi’s latest misfire doesn’t have lovable Hitler (...) Waititi fails to imagine almost anything about the film coherently, beginning with his protagonist."
		Pete Hammond Deadline	"Ultimately this is a film pretty true to the documentary, but one Waititi has infused with so much heart and his quirky sense of humor that it stands as a nice original on its own."
		Brian Tallerico rogerebert.com	"A deeply forgettable movie when it's not being lazy or offensive"
		Alejandra Martínez Austin Chronicle	"It’s a shame that Waititi’s return to Indigenous-centered filmmaking is marred by regressive narrative choices and lazy jokes (...) Rating: ★½ (out of 5)"
		Ross Bonaime Collider	"A decent, by-the-numbers sports comedy, the likes of which we've seen many times before (...) Next Goal Wins never quite finds the heart that often makes Waititi’s films so powerful"
		Robert Abele Los Angeles Times	"You’d swear the Oscar-winning filmmaker was struggling with the impulse to go full parody. Even Fassbender seems befuddled by whether he’s supposed to upend things or follow the blueprint"
		Martin Tsai The Wrap	"Waititi’s Maori ancestry enables him to find comedy in American Samoan culture without being offensive or disparaging (...) There's a lot of heart here"
		Matt Zoller Seitz rogerebert.com	"Can you call a film formulaic if it's based on things that really happened? Maybe (...) 'Next Goal Wins' is a case study, unfortunately (...) Rating: ★½ (out of 4)"
		Brittany Witherspoon Screen Rant	"'Next Goal Wins' has some embellishments, but its biggest mishap is missing the mark on jokes and limiting character development for almost every person (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 5)"
		Siddhant Adlakha IGN	"It lacks the zany energy to be truly farcical, as well as the sincerity that might help its drama land"
		Jared Mobarak The Film Stage	"Waititi isn’t trying to break the mold (...) And when the story is as heartwarmingly pure and exciting as this one (...) you can’t ignore that its familiarity pales in comparison to its fun."
		Barry Levitt SlashFilm	"'Next Goal Wins' proves that Waititi probably needs a break —to put it gently, this is an awful movie"
		John Nugent Empire	"Waititi’s shtick runs thin, and there are badly misguided moments, but this is still a warm, heart-mostly-in-the-right-place portrait of a momentously poor sports team (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Kristy Puchko Mashable	"Though 'Next Goal Wins' aims for silly and feel-good, it wildly misses the mark"
		Rachel Ho Exclaim!	"The light-hearted, charming and completely unserious sports movie we expect from the director"
		Meg Shields Film School Rejects	"If you're worried that you won't like 'Next Goal Wins' because you're not a soccer person, don't worry. There are plenty of other reasons not to like it"
		Wendy Ide The Guardian	"Waititi’s personality is evident in every frame, which suggests that he is rather overestimating the level of audience goodwill towards him (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		John Serba Decider	"[It] misses the net way too many times"
		Moira MacDonald Seattle Times	"Mostly 'Next Goal Wins' just plods along, agreeable and familiar and instantly forgettable (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"
		Alison Willmore Vulture	"[It] feels like it regards its characters as sock puppets he can provide all the barely variegated voices for"

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Next Goal Wins

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