MIDNIGHT REVIEWS Next Goal Wins
Midnight Reviews features reviews and thought pieces written and edited by a parent, at night, after bedtime.
This afternoon’s movie…
“We can watch a quick something before we go out. What do you want?”
“Peter Rabbit. Peter Rabbit with fox and owl. Want them both, Daddy.”
Review: I was delighted to find that it wasn’t the Peter Rabbit starring James Corden. Five stars, no notes.
The evening review…
NEXT GOAL WINS (1hr 44mins)
Directed by: Taika Waititi
Featuring: Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana
Synopsis: Based on a true story (though, as a fourth wall break establishes, made with some creative license), the tale of the American Samoa football team who must try to move on from losing a game by a record-breaking amount. They do this with the ‘help’ of a new coach (Fassbender) who can’t find a job anywhere else due to his anger issues.
Review: It’s fitting that Taiki Waititi, pulling triple duty with directing, co-writing and acting in Next Goal Wins, plays a preacher who breaks the fourth wall at the beginning and in an after-credits scene. What with American Samoa being such an inherently religious place, it would only be right for a preacher to break this wall. But even this religious aspect gets undercut with the understated humour that Waititi has made his own.
It’s this undercutting that the film does so well, so much better than so many self-proclaimed comedies that feature a needle drop and a catchphrase. The near-constant pulling of the rug is an easy act to pull off, but incredibly tricky to pull off well and Next Goal Wins manages it with aplomb.
What helps is that, deep down, Waititi and fellow writer Iain Morris have kept everything else relatively simple. The main theme of this movie is being happy and the freedom this gives. Despite all of life’s complications, it’s a lesson in single-mindedness, as the film features over a dozen characters that are focused almost entirely on what makes them happy. Whilst some find it difficult actually achieving this, it creates a throughline that is easy to follow meaning we can spend more of our brain power focusing on whether the movie will stick or twist. It also helps (or hinders, depending on your view) that the sports genre doesn’t exactly offer many surprises.
The montage lets [Thomas] off a little too easily.
We have our moment where each hero is at their lowest, before fighting through their own way, with help, to achieve greatness. We have the inevitable underdog win. We even have the montage, though it’s less about the football and more about becoming a better human.
It’s this repurposing of a sports genre staple that creates a divot the movie certainly trips over. We start with Thomas (Fassbender), newly fired and ‘offered’ a job in the same breath. His new role is coaching American Samoa, a team that holds the dubious honour of worst loss in a World Cup game (31–0, against some Australians who appear later in the movie antagonistically before reverting to cheering our heroes on five minutes later).
Thomas has anger issues which turn him into a bitter, horrible man, but we’re not sure why. His wife has left him, but it doesn’t seem to be this that has broken him. He proceeds to drink-drive, use deadnaming as a coaching method and when he’s not too busy makes sure everyone remembers how awful they all are.
The problem with using a sports movie standard, the montage, to show how Thomas not just improves American Samoa’s football but also improves himself is that Thomas is really not a nice guy. And the montage lets him off a little too easily, as he becomes a better version of himself through efficient editing and soundbites. Whilst I’m not one for excluding characters from movies that don’t chime with my world view (God, that would be boring), if someone needs to make a change deep down within themselves the pacing of the movie needs to reflect this. In fact, the pacing of the entire film seems a little off and I found myself struggling to match where the story was.
However, there is a lot to like in Next Goal Wins. Despite a critical mauling with Thor: Love and Thunder as well as some short-lived but resounding criticism regarding comments relating to visual effects artists, Next Goal Wins is an uplifting, breezy and hilarious offering.
[Oscar Kightley] is a walking quote machine.
And it comes with some genuinely emotional sequences to boot. Jaiyah, a squad member partway through transitioning to become a woman, weighs up the options of continuing with her medication and risking becoming ineligible for the team, or stopping the medication and rejecting herself, is the emotional lynchpin as we slowly remove the curtain hiding her emotional vulnerability. This is played perfectly by Kaimana as we see her façade crumble under intense bullying and off-hand comments.
Fassbender, as the default main character who does verge on white saviour territory, is of the same quality as we actively try and figure him out. When we do find out the truth behind his anger it’s an emotional thump to the gut that lets you understand why he lashes out at anyone and everyone.
This is all kept light by the amazing, the wonderful, the miraculous Oscar Kightley. Just as you get yourself into his rhythm and you worry that his punchlines are going to become samey, he brings along something surprising that makes you laugh. This is exemplified by his ‘One goal’ routine that plays out, hilariously, far longer than it should. The man is a walking quote machine.
Football, as any film fan knows, is tricky to film and make look interesting. Next Goal Wins does it well with just the right amount of movement to make things exciting whilst ensuring the action still makes sense. And, despite the obvious beats in the story, everyone in the screening I went to cheered when American Samoa finally did the impossible.
In the end happiness is found, not through therapy or even emotional turmoil that might play well with Oscar voters. But through focusing on it in a calm, purposeful way. Happiness as a way of life, a simple concept made easier with simplicity in one’s life.
Funny, surprising and constantly reminding us Michael Fassbender is white, Next Goal Wins is currently out in cinemas.
