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I’m not a football fan, so any desire that I had to see this film came solely from my love of both Taika Waititi and Michael Fassbender. It’s so strong that it can overcome my powerful lack of interest in the sport. Although, I guess you don’t really need to care about sport to watch sports movies. I don’t care about hockey but continue to believe The Mighty Ducks is sensational entertainment. As a kid, I knew nothing about American football but would watch Little Giants on repeat. Does Teen Wolf count as sports movie? Probably and I bloody love that. So, it’s not as if I don’t have a history with sports movies. Sometimes they manage to sneak through and do something wonderful. Would that be the case for Next Goal Wins? I had to see.

There was a time when Taika Waititi could do no wrong. He’d made so many hilarious films and tv shows. Then he made Thor: Love and Thunder and some people changed their opinion. I know that it wasn’t the best film ever but there were things I liked about Love and Thunder, so I wasn’t ready to give up on him yet. After watching this, I sort of wish I had. It’s not as if this film is terrible either but it’s just not everything I thought it would be. It sort of feels as though somebody needs to start saying no to the director occasionally. Especially as he weirdly inserts himself into the film as a third wall breaking preacher. I love seeing him do his stuff on screen but it just didn’t work for me.

You can see why this story appealed. It’s based on the real-life story of the American Samoa men’s team and their attempt to get to the World Cup. It aimed to walk alongside classic underdog films like Cool Runnings and Eddie the Eagle. Yes, it’s got a few embellishments but the basics are real. In 2011, Dutch-American football coach, Thomas Rongen, who was recruited to help whip them into shape following a 31-0 defeat against Australia. What follows is the usual kind of sports movie fare. Think training montages, inspirational speeches and lots of hilarious missteps. It’s as quirky and silly as you’d expect from the director but there’s a point when it just feels like the wrong tone.

I’m not saying this needed to be a fully serious film but there are some things that deserved to be highlighted a little more. For example, the film includes reference to the  first transgender player ever to compete in a World Cup qualifier game. In the midst of something so very silly, it sort of feels like this piece of history is overlooked a little. It also doesn’t help that the film has to focus on Rongen quite so much. He’s just a very dry character who is difficult to life. He’s surrounded by unique characters who you really want to spend time with. Instead, we learn about the white man who doesn’t want to be there. Yes, you know that he’s going to “find himself” on the island but it doesn’t make it any better.

There’s a lot of lovely stuff here that is going to be familiar to any Waititi fan. However, there’s no denying that this misses some his normal magic. I get the feeling that he’s relying too much on his personality to save himself but that it’s definitely starting to wear thin. It’s sweet but it could have been better. Not one that will go down with the other legends of the genre.