Next Goal Wins is the latest Taika Waititi directed feature. His filmography has given fans of his work some high anticipation for this film. The film has also gone through various release dates, making people speculate that this may be an awards contender based on its November release date.

The plot synopsis, inspired by true events, follows Dutch coach Thomas Rongen, played by Michael Fassbender, who has been reassigned to coach the American Samoa soccer team with interesting results. Between its real life material and Waititi’s ability to deliver humor & emotion, there is no question why there was much intrigue with this one. While I personally enjoyed it, I can see where people are coming from with their concerns about the film.

I saw this as part of AMC’S new mystery movie titled AMC Screen Unseen. While there were a lot of predictions that this was going to be the film playing, I had my doubts. I actually had an advanced screening for the same film scheduled only 30 minutes later at the same theater. I took my chances with going to this showing instead and I’m glad that I did. Having to wait outside in line for the same movie for hours for a potentially bad seat sounded silly in hindsight compared to having the ability to pick a seat at an earlier time. Even with a packed theater, I’m glad I chose the latter.

After seeing this, I think it’s unfair to expect any filmmaker like Waititi to have such a follow up like Jojo Rabbit in terms of originality versus his work on the MCU. I don’t see this being a step backwards for the filmmaker. He is an artist. It shows that he knows what works with his humor and attempts to do it with something else that he isn’t used to. It’s clear he is experimenting, and that is okay. Last night, I was ready to give this a 4/5, or a great, score. After sleeping on it and thinking more about the film, I lowered the score just a bit to a 3.5/5, or a pretty good, score. The emotions that I felt towards the end of the film initially swayed me to improve the score to a 4/5. However, a 3.5/5 feels justified. Here’s why.

The film starts off strong. It has a unique set up between how they establish the American Samoa soccer team and Fassbender’s character as Coach Thomas Rongen. There’s a sense of believability versus how humorous it all is. I genuinely laughed non-stop for what felt like the first 30 minutes. Waititi understands what makes his humor appealing to his audience. I cannot speak on behalf of everyone that does watch it; however, a good portion of my audience was consistently laughing.

Now, I want to emphasize this: this is a surprising performance from Fassbender. The actor hasn’t been in a film since 2019’s Dark Phoenix, which is crazy to think that it’s been that long. With this role, he has that serious side that we are all used to, but he balances the serious perfectly with the humor to give him an overly complex character. I was confused with his character’s motives in the beginning, but as more became unraveled, it made sense why his character did the things that he did.

But the performances don’t stop there. There is Kaimana, who plays as transgender soccer player, Jaiyah Saelua, in a standout role that people will surely talk about. There’s also Oscar Knightley, who plays the president of the American Samoa organization. He becomes the heart & soul of the story as he displays optimism, giving the story more humor and emotion. I got the sense that Waititi was the one speaking through this character.

Speaking of emotion, Waititi understands how to balance that with the humor based on his work on Jojo Rabbit and now this. I don’t count his latest work with the MCU as a good example of what he is capable of, because he is at his best when it comes to smaller stories such as this one. As mentioned, I was ready to give this film a 4/5, because of the emotion that he displays in the story. I could really relate to the material, but it doesn’t make up for what doesn’t work here.

What Waititi chooses to do with the characters here is very questionable. Elisabeth Moss is just there. She is not bad, but her presence is really not needed. It seems like she was added because she got along with the filmmaker. Her character tries to subvert expectations within a particular plot point. I won’t spoil it, but I was able to guess the surprise revealed at the end about halfway through the movie. It just felt like Moss was placed only to throw the audience off. The movie could have also done much more in the end and how they resolved her character with the main character played by Fassbender.

There is also how the director juggles all of the other characters. For one, it was truly not necessary for Waititi himself to have the small role he did as a priest. Not only was it pointless, but it was not as funny as I think he thought it was. It is also unfortunate how all of the other soccer players are sidelined. Not much is really given to the rest of these characters. There’s one moment where a random soccer player gets the chance to tell his team how much they mean to him, because he’s had a rough year. Just as he is really talking, he’s interrupted due to the game getting ready to start. It was a cheap gag that could have done more for the characters. Don’t forget to mention the one character who hasn’t played in years other than on his Xbox to start playing for the team the day before the actual game. It can get quite ridiculous what Waititi does with all of the side characters.

In no way is this a perfect film. If this was, Waititi would improve on his characters & story. It also have many cliche’s. Fans are watching from different locations on their television. The white guy ends up saving the day. Many will probably see the comparison between this and Green Book. The truth is that this is a true story, so it’s not like much could have been changed. What could have been done so much better is utilizing more of these characters that play an important part in the overall story and truly giving the main character a real dilemma, rather than having issues be resolved within the next five minutes. I get it – it’s a movie. There’s only so much that can be done. But I can only wonder what more this could have been had the film not focus on Elisabeth Moss’ character and give more of the important soccer players their spotlight.

Overall, Next Goal Wins plays into clichés and prioritizes characters over others, but it manages to still have that Waititi spark through its humor & emotion. This is very much of a different role than what I am used to for Michael Fassbender, but I am here for it. He does a great job and I only hope he gets to be in more stuff. Quite the week with The Killer on the horizon. I am sure viewers will find this as a crowd-pleasing film at the least.

VERDICT: Pretty good