[Review] Next Goal Wins (6/10)

 

Title - Next Goal Wins
Production - Archer's Mark, Imaginarium Productions, Piki Films
Starring - Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, Beulah Koale, Will Arnett, Elisabeth Moss, Rhys Darby, David Fane, Rachel House, Uli Latukefu, Taika Waititi, Wil Kahele, Ioane Goodhue, Bradley Constant
Writer - Taika Waititi, Iain Morris
Director - Taika Waititi
Release - 17 November 2023

Probably a pet project for Taika Waititi with what looked to be the smallest of budget, this was meant to be something fun. But I think the cast had more fun than the audience.

The acting, first of all, was carried by Michael Fassbender (naturally). Almost everyone else were just enough to serve their roles. There was a lot of focus on Kaimana's character and unfortunately they were not that good an actor, so every time they were on screen they kind of sucked me out of the movie momentarily.

There were not a lot of focus on characters too, which is weird for a Taika Waititi movie. Even for the lead character, there was not a lot of events to push his character forward. Everything sort of just happened. 

But true to Waititi's movie, the humour was on point. That locker room sharing that got cut short floored me with laughter and was the most memorable part of the movie, unfortunately.

And when it's also written by Waititi, if almost felt like he gave up halfway with the story he wanted to make in his mind and just went through the motion with it. Very weird considering this was the movie he chose to do for himself.