The problem about "nice" films and "simple" films is twofold... those adjectives sound bland and uninviting, and should you rate them highly it sets expectations that can almost never be met. But this is a nice, simple film and I loved it. Some critics have had a cra k at Taika about his cheesy sense of humour. Horses for courses. I thought he pushed too hard for cheap jokes in the Thor franchise, more as the franchise continued, but this film had a lot more heart and the cheese quota fit very well. Taika has a real skill for stillness and smallness when he decides to, like in the wonderful JoJo Rabbit. In this film, his love, pride and and comfort with Polynesian culture imbues the whole work and his eye for beauty and simplicity provide an enticing serenity. There are a lot of films about underdogs that win... and a lot about washed out coaches being assigned "loser" teams. But the individual portrayal and journey can still take us somewhere new. There IS cheese... there IS corn... but that's quite welcome in certain contexts. There's a surprising number of celebrity pal cameos, lots of silliness, an emotional gut punch you don't see coming and the whole mix is enjoyably uplifting, familial and familiar. I stuck a tear and very much enjoyed this.

Next Goal Wins is fine. It has a little comedy and a little heart. But not enough of either to be great.

I can't imagine what kind of dirt Taika must have on Fassbender... there's literally no other explanation for him taking this role

Like the word 'good': it means well but doesn't go hard enough. This underdog sports flick about soccer qualifications in American Samoa feels like a remake of Cool Runnings. Waititi gives the film charm and a couple laugh-out-loud moments, but if the movie were a soccer team it wouldn't get past the group stage. The movie does, however, make me want to watch the 2014 documentary about the American Samoan team, also called 'Next Goal Wins '. The best part of this film, though, is absolutely the focus on Jaiyah Saelua, a faʻafafine (Polynesian term for a person of a third gender) who was the first non-binary and trans woman athlete to compete in a FIFA World Cup qualifier. She is played by Kaimana, a Samoan faʻafafine who makes me wish I were years younger so I could dream of taking her to dinner. 😍

It was okay. Just okay. Nothing spectacular, nothing terrible either. I think the same way _Taika Waititi_'s last movie, _Thor: Love and Thunder_ was flawed with lots and lots of cheesy often even bad jokes, _Next Goal Wins_ is flawed. If you ask me the jokes are better than in _Thor: Love and Thunder_ but still way to much. The plot it self was a great "idea", if you can say so, as it is of course based on a true story. The film still had a good entertainment value through it's cheesy jokes. Let's put it like this: I wasn't bored at the theatre. Acting was okay i guess. The characters were okay as well. There was sadly no real good character development, of course [spoiler] the team's mindset and _Thomas Rongen_'s mindset in perticular were changed throughout the film [/spoiler], but I still wished for a greater/better character developement than this predictable yet fair development. One of my biggest issues with this flick is the cinematography. I mean there there were almost only medium shots or other "normal" shots in order to convey the dialogue/whats happening. There were nearly no "establishing shots" (extreme wide shots) nor any other interesting shots it was just a really boring shot movie. If _Lachlan Milne_ was responsible for this, then I am really disappointed with his work here. If the comparatively small budget of 14 Million USD was the reason for this, the I will let it slide.. I don't want to shit talk this movie here, but these two aspects really annoyed me throughout the whole movie. However these two aspects being bad don't mean that the whole movie is bad. It's an "mid" movie. As I already said, nothing spectacular, nothing terrible either. Kind of forgettable I believe. >==My personal rating:== -Plot (Story Arc and Plausibility): 6/10 -Attraction (Premise & Entertainment Value): 6/10 -Theme (Identity & Depth): 5/10 -Acting (Characters & Performance): 5/10 -Dialogue (Storytelling & Context): 5/10 -Cinematography (Visual Language & Lighting, Setting, and Wardrobe): 4/10 -Editing (Pace & Effects): 4.5/10 -Soundtrack (Sound Design & Film Score): 6/10 -Directing (Vision & Execution): 5/10 -The “It” Factor (One-of-a-Kind & Transcendent): 5/10 >**Overall: 5/10 || 51.5/100**