After years and years of delays, production troubles, and reshoots to replace a problematic actor, Taika Waititi’s latest comedy is finally being seen by TIFF audiences.

Jojo Rabbit (2019), the film that won over this very same audience — along with Oscar voters — was truly the launchpoint for Waititi’s career into the mainstream. After the offensively bad Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), there was hope of Waititi returning to form with another inspirational crowd-pleaser. Unfortunately, Next Goal Wins may be one of his weakest films to date. The wait was far from worth it.

Based on a true story (somewhat) and adapted from the 2014 documentary of the same name, Waititi’s sports drama follows the historically losing American Samoa team. After getting fired from his last coaching job, the eccentric Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) is hired to turn this team’s story around. One goal in one game is all he’s asked to do. Being able to connect to the team and encouraging leader Jaiyah (Kaimana) to help lead them to victory proves to be a difficult undertaking for Thomas.

More than ever before, it seems that Waititi is determined to broaden his appeal by following the underdog sports formula to a tee, writing in quirky moments that basically scream, “This is where the audience should clap now,” rather than telling the story right in front of him. Next Goal Wins features familiar trademarks from other Waititi films but without any of the warmth or cinematic flourish that audiences have come to expect.

As strong of a performance Fassbender gives, his character is the least interesting part of the whole film. Even as Waititi’s script seems aware of the white savior trope, poking fun at Thomas throughout, he doesn’t exactly absolve the film of following it.

Thomas’ story primarily revolves around him learning to respect the team’s cultural traditions and letting go of his rigid view of the game. The sad reality is that everything we learn about the Samoa team is in relation to how they interact with Thomas rather than getting their own moments to shine. The well-intentioned ending falls flat since the audience never spends enough time with the Samoa team before Thomas takes the reins of coaching.

The biggest issue with this focus is how Jaiyah, who identifies as trans and non-binary, is cast aside. At the beginning of the film, Thomas deadnames her and questions her identity right to her face. Conventionally enough, though, when the plot needs Thomas to connect with the team, he suddenly starts treating her with respect without making up for his transphobia. And even worse, it almost feels like the audience is supposed to applaud Thomas for finally treating her with human dignity.

But even beyond the film being fairly forgettable and problematic, another one of its worst offenses is that it’s not very funny. Some moments here and there elicit chuckles, but so much of the humor completely misses the ball. Even in previous Waititi films where he struggled to balance drama and comedy, the script was still funny enough to justify an uneven tone. Here, there’s just not much to work with.

Next Goal Wins does improve slightly after a rough first act, but it still misses the mark in a widely disappointing way. Every beat, act break, and storytelling device has been seen before — and done better. Waititi wants us to know how big of a heart the Samoa team has and how much they’ve given up in order to play the game, but without actually placing them at the forefront of their own story, they get lost in the souffle. With this widely misconstrued perspective, it’s difficult to feel like anyone has won by the time Waititi wants the audience to stand up and cheer.

Review Courtesy of Matt Minton

Feature Image credit to Searchlight Pictures via Variety