{"id":27427,"date":"2023-11-17T01:17:41","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T09:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=27427"},"modified":"2023-11-17T01:17:41","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T09:17:41","slug":"next-goal-wins-scores-some-laughs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=27427","title":{"rendered":"NEXT GOAL WINS Scores Some Laughs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 103 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from Searchlight Pictures opens in cinemas on\nNovember 17th<\/sup>, 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During World Cup qualifying rounds in 2001, the American\nSamoa national soccer team suffered the biggest defeat in history. Even though\nfew expected this group to progress into the tournament, at the time it was\nstill considered a major embarrassment and dogged the country for years. They\nimmediately became FIFA\u2019s lowest-ranked team and languished over the following\nyears. This hardly sounds like the material for an inspirational sports\ncomedy\/drama, but Next Goal Wins<\/em> tells the story of their struggle for redemption.\nDirector\/co-writer Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the\nWilderpeople, JoJo Rabbit<\/em>) takes a breezier approach to the story than in\nhis previous efforts. Still, for the most part, it does succeed in delivering\nlaughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dutch-American Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) is a\ntemperamental soccer coach known for his on-the-field outbursts. With his\ncareer in trouble, he is forced to accept the role of new mentor for the\nAmerican Samoa team and turn them into a competitive squad for a new series of\nWorld Cup qualifiers. Rongen initially writes them all off, butting heads with\nmellow American Samoa Football Federation Head Tavita Taumua (Oscar Knightley),\nthe man who actually fought for the coach\u2019s appointment. The intense figure\ndoesn\u2019t fare any better with the team, including transgender player Jaiyah\nSaeula (Kaimana). While the mission is essentially impossible, Rongen must\nchange his personal philosophy in order to bring some measure of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A lot of humor comes from the team\u2019s loser status. Knightley\nis extremely entertaining as his country\u2019s soccer federation official, local\nTV-series cameraperson and more. Despite suffering many indignities, his sweet\nnature is endearing and most of the gags involving the character land. This is\na fish-out-of-water story, with a lot of material involving the down-and-out\nRongen having to adapt to local customs on a small island. Naturally, there are\nplenty of gags derived from the coach encountering noted officials and team\nmembers in unexpected places. And the fact that all the players have a relaxed\nattitude toward the game also results in comedic conflict between themselves\nand their exasperated trainer. The entire team ensemble is excellent and\nmaximize the comedic potential of just about every scene they appear in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie also manages to deliver a couple of twists on the\nunderdog sports film formula. This group is never going to reach great heights,\nso it is interesting to see them deal with this fact and celebrate much smaller\nvictories. There\u2019s a hilarious moment involving an inspirational speech\ndelivered by a newly motivated Rongen. He races up a mountain peak with the\nteam, but finds himself completely out of breath when trying to deliver his big\nmessage. There are also plenty of fun cameos from the likes of Will Arnett,\nRhys Darby and the director himself (as the story\u2019s narrator and local priest).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Admittedly, the film does have its issues. The tale offers\nplenty of engaging moments with fascinating American Samoan characters and\nfeels like more time could have been spent with them. While the tone is light\nand silly early on, the backstory involving the coach becomes considerably\nserious and melancholic. It does resolve itself in a sweet, emotional\nconfession to the players. Yet this admission makes a few of the American\nSoccer Federation members come across as even more insensitive during their early\ninteractions with the lead. The gags will likely still earn chuckles, but the\nramifications of the reveal may briefly take one out of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Regardless, the movie is a well-intentioned and mostly winning tale of a group of outcasts finding suffering, as well as eventual joy and happiness, through the game of soccer. It doesn\u2019t all work, but in the end the charming cast helps Next Goal Wins <\/em>secure a victory. But for those who got inspired to grind thanks to sports movies like this, they can instantly start by grabbing one of that archery equipment<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 103 minutes This film from Searchlight Pictures opens in cinemas on November 17th, 2023. During World Cup qualifying rounds in 2001, the American Samoa national soccer team suffered the biggest defeat in history. Even though few expected this group to progress into the tournament, at the time it was still considered a major […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[213,1245,4660,6251,7503,7711,11413,13780,14778,14779,14780,14781,15509,17879,18625,24478],"class_list":["post-27427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-213","tag-american-samoa","tag-comedy","tag-drama","tag-fifa","tag-football","tag-kaimana","tag-michael-fassbender","tag-next-goal-wins","tag-next-goal-wins-film-review","tag-next-goal-wins-movie-review","tag-next-goal-wins-review","tag-oscar-knightley","tag-searchlight-pictures","tag-soccer","tag-world-cup-qualifiers"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}