Next Goal Wins

Last night I went to see Next Goal Wins because I simply cannot resist an inspirational sports movie and I enjoyed seeing this true story (told with a few wild embellishments according to a priest, played rather amusingly by director Taika Waititi, who breaks the fourth wall to narrate) with a large crowd who frequently laughed out loud.  Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) is coerced into to coaching the football team in American Samoa, notorious for losing by the widest margin (31-0) ever during a game against Australia, after being fired from the U.S. men's national team.  The organizer of the team (Oscar Kightley) just wants them to score one goal, which they have never done in international play, but Rongen is a volatile alcoholic with anger management issues and immediately butts heads with the devoutly religious, traditional, and laid back players.  The team eventually finds success but they also teach Rongen that there are more important things than winning.  This is full of the usual sports movie tropes, such as a training montage to "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," a motivational locker room speech, as well as a suspenseful come from behind win, and it definitely includes a white savior narrative (although it is somewhat subverted by the fact that the team wins in spite of Rongen).  Fassbender's performance is surprisingly bad and I actually cared about the individual members of the team (especially a transgender player, the first to ever compete in a FIFA qualifying match, brilliantly portrayed by Kaimana) more than Rongen and I wish that their character arcs had been emphasized more.  Despite all of this, however, there is enough heart and humor (I loved all of the references to The Karate Kid) to make this an entertaining watch and I recommend it, especially to fans of the genre, although it is definitely one you can wait to see when it streams.