Mini Film Review – Next Goal Wins

I have just seen Next Goal Wins; and it was decently funny! Directed by Taika Waititi, and starring Michael Fassbender, Kaimana, and Oscar Kightley; Next Goal Wins is a Sports Comedy-Drama based on the documentary of the same name, about football coach Thomas Rongen, who has been given the seemingly impossible task of getting the worlds weakest football team: the American Samoa national football team; to score their first ever goal. Next Goal Wins, is possibly the first comedy I have seen in a long time, that actually made me laugh. Many more recent films bring a smile to my face, but here, the film does more than that. It was not just occasionally funny either, or funny for the wrong reasons. It was funny on purpose, and regularly often too. The drama scenes outside of the football team are annoyingly cringe-worthy, and don’t really offer anything other than to just be there. But, outside of those scenes, scenes focussing on the team, have a real drama to them, which are both satisfying, and cause some real tear-jerking emotional bits too, particularly towards the end. I was surprised how much I was crying by the end of the film, as it felt so wholesome and lovely, like I wanted to be there, experiencing it live!