I had several expectations from this one. Taika Waititi and football? Get out of here! One of the funniest directors and actors takes the round ball and tells a sport story? The greatest genre and greatest sport alive, all wrapped up with a Michael Fassbender ribbon. Can't get something better for an hour and a half of my time.

The story is worn out - store wise. It's the cranky coach that cannot success anywhere and will make his correct turn when he takes ab bunch of losers and try to rehabilitate them and shoot them and their careers to another level. Well...its almost what you'll see in this movie...almost.

We are talking about American Samoa national team, that suffered the biggest lose in professional football and got new coach, that failed measurably in last two years. A matching from heaven or hell, if you ask me. But then again...things start to develop between two sides and a silver lining is ahead for both sides.

Can't say that this movie made me connect emotionally or be unforgettable, but it made me laugh with Waititi's special kind of humor. It has another star except the coach and she tells another story, of tolerance and love and it is gentle and beautiful. Except those two stories we get hell of a fun and joyride from this great director.

The shell of the movie is pretty much what you get from a sport drama genre general movie. The internal details and content, about losers that just like the game, is something else and the collision between them and the coach that might teach them how to level up, while they teach him to mellow down - that's the stuff that dreams are made from.

This is a smart movie, not for the people looking for a formulaic plot. It starts out that way - misbehaving coach gets stuck with the worst team in the world. Moviegoers expecting a miracle will be disappointed, because this is (mostly) a true story. And truth is always a bit more complicated.

But, it's also not taking's itself too seriously, which is absolutely necessary for the story. It's meant to be dumb and silly, which is ironically what makes it so smart (Yes, that's right). That's why this is for intelligent people who see hardship as the best stuff of life, not that which we must fix to be "whole" people. It's anti-perfectionism and against worshipping advantages over character. Which is what smart people know is most important.

Often, I want a movie that is like a fairytale - that gives me pure escapism. And, I'm certainly not one to nitpick entertainment for not being "realistic", and it annoys me when people complain about that when it clearly wasn't the intention of a film. And, those movies make me laugh and feel happy, and that's great. But, that joy is not like real life. With a film like Next Goal Wins, there is an opportunity to experience true joy for something real, which makes it refreshingly different.

I felt cringe for the coach's drinking and terrible behavior. Unlike I suspect many, I saw his back story coming. I also felt his personal disappointment for his wife's unfortunate romantic choices. He is not a perfect character, nor is he meant to be. My favorite scene is probably the team's little pre-game performance at the final game - it is the climax before the resolution. As I expected what came next, it was a satisfying and cathartic ending to me.

As someone who knows what hitting bottom feels like, I can attest that this film is true at heart. There is not a miraculous undoing of the past. That's just not how life works. And, that's not how you move forward. If you get this message, you will love this movie.

Next Goal Wins is a winning crowd pleaser that, like its loveable cast of characters, isn't the best at what it does but makes sure to have a good time doing it. It's weird to see an earnest version of a Dances With Wolves style narrative in 2023 and like previous Taika films, undercuts some of the emotional beats for humour. Luckily, the heart of the film still manages to shine through it all.

Michael Fassbender proves he's a really talented comedic actor purely because he plays everything completely straight, which works wonders for all the comedy. Oscar Kightley is the MVP though, that endless optimism wins you over instantly and the film wisely knows to keep him around for as much as possible.

Taika Waititi's direction is so recognisably him, mostly for the better. Even though too many emotional moments are undercut, the jokes themselves are consistently funny. Starting from the first scene the jokes are landing and they rarely miss. Whilst the final match isn't the most thrilling, Taika does successfully draw out the result as much as possible for maximum impact.