Directed by Taika Waititi and based on a true story, Next Goal Wins follows Dutch American football coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) who faces the option of being fired or accepting an almost impossible task: to convert the American Samoa national team, considered one of the weakest football teams in the world, into an elite squad.
Taika Waititi has stepped away from wild space adventures of the Norse God of Thunder and has gone back to his more grounded roots with this take on one of the most unique underdog stories in the sports world. As I have mentioned in the past I am not the biggest fan of sports dramas inspired by true events, but given how much I adore Taika’s work I was eager to see what he could deliver with this film, especially given how fascinating the story was, making this film one of my most anticipated of this year.
And I can happily say that I absolutely loved Next Goal Wins. It is a feel-good crowd-pleasing underdog story packed with tons of heart. It is a simple story that plays some familiar beats but is given a unique direction through Taika’s signature style, as well as the important inclusion of American Samoan influences that play such a large part in the story and themes.
This film features a delightful cast of both notable faces as well as completely new ones for me who all committed to their roles and got the audience to feel very attached to them from start to end.
This marks the first time in several years I have seen Michael Fassbender back on the big screen and he is fantastic in the role of Thomas Rongen. From the start, you can feel Thomas carries a lot of emotional baggage that affects him mentally and makes him at first appear to be a hot-tempered asshole that is obsessed with winning games. But as he goes on this journey to American Samoa and spends time with this team that he has been forced to train you see there is much more to him that comes to the surface. We spend most of the film seeing him on a path of redemption that has many bumps in the road that you feel invested in, but then when we understand why he fell so hard from grace it makes you look at him differently as a person, resulting in emotional moments that hit hard and are executed beautifully through a great combination of Fassbender’s performance and Taika’s writing.
Fassbender has always been the best at delivering emotional intensity, which he does significantly well here, but I was surprised to see that he has some great comedy chops on him that I have never really seen in his previous work.
Surrounding Fassbender in this film is the absolutely incredible Samoan cast that serves as the true heart of this film, each given fantastic performances by their respective cast members.
But the biggest stand out among all of them is Jaiyah Saelua (played by Kaimana) who was the first transgender player that would go on to compete in the World Cup. Jaiyah plays such an integral role in this film in a wonderfully crafted friendship with Fassbender’s Rongen, and Kaimana beautifully portrays her so well, giving us one of the best transgender representations I have seen in recent years. Taika handled this character extremely well and I love how she is shown to be mostly accepted by her community, which is something you don’t expect to see in most other places. She was easily one of my favorite performances in the film next to Fassbender and I can definitely see her being a major inspiration to others.
Another performance I adored was Oscar Kightley as Tavita Taumua, the head of the Football Federation of American Samoa (FFAS). This man radiates infectious positive energy and delivers the most laughs for me, being one of the most wholesome characters in the film. He is a heartwarming gem in all the right ways thanks largely to Kightley’s dedicated performance.
The rest of the Samoan cast is great and the other supporting performances like Will Arnett and Elisabeth Moss are also really solid, even when they aren’t in the film as much as everyone else. There is also of course Taika himself coming in as a cameo delivering a rather bizarre yet somehow still hilarious performance as an American-Samoan Priest.
The film is a simple and straight-to-the-point underdog story that as I mentioned follows familiar sports drama beats, but again I felt the way Taika chose to approach this story was unique, as well as the fact that it is a story focused on a lesser-known football team who’s story was a special one that would impact history in certain ways.
This film contains Taika’s style of humor which you either love or don’t but I will say this film had a lot more heart than humor. That isn’t to say this film doesn’t deliver many laughs because it certainly does at the right moments, but I did like that this film leaned into a more wholesome and surprisingly emotional direction, with moments that any audience will connect with, as well as present strong themes that stay with you.
One of the biggest themes this film presents beautifully through the perspective of Rongen and the American Samoa team is that there is more to life than football and that it is never about winning but having fun. Now of course this is a theme that we have seen before, but it is the way that Taika approaches it from a different angle that makes it feel so refreshing and still emotionally impacts audiences in various ways. Also, this film does make fun of certain sports drama tropes in hilarious ways, which I massively appreciated.
We have seen so many films that focus on the sport itself but not the people behind them and that is what sets this film apart, especially with its exploration of the culture of the team. I don’t really know all that much about American Samoa culture but this film does a brilliant job giving us an insight into it and it definitely made me want to learn more about the culture and the people.
The film is beautifully shot on its island setting and feels very relaxed and laid back, much like how the American Samoan people are in this film, which adds to the feel-good nature of this film as a whole. No massive sets or special effects are present at all, making this film feel as grounded and as indie as some of Taika’s earliest works, and I will admit it is really refreshing to see him return to those roots. The cinematography is very good for this film overall, as is the editing that assists with some of the various comedic moments that occur in this film.
The film features some excellent music with a great score by composer Michael Giacchino but also a really good soundtrack, featuring what I assume to be Samoan songs that add to the culturally vibrant feeling of this film.
There are a few slight nitpicks I have with the film here and there but honestly, none of it was enough to stifle my overall enjoyment and adoration for this film as a whole. It may not be my top favorite film from Taika but it is another great film that is a definite crowd pleaser and one that I think everyone should see if they need a feel-good movie that has good humor, great heart and a unique approach to the sports drama genre. I am going to give Next Goal Wins an A = 97.
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