Next Goal Wins: Taika Waititi returns to his low-fi roots

After conquering Hollywood with the Thor movies, Taika Waititi returns to lower budget filmmaking with a comedy based on a true story. Michael Fassbender stars as Thomas Rongen, a Dutch-American football coach who is tasked with managing American Samoa, the worst team in the FIFA ranking, in the lead up to the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers.

Probably the biggest twist is that, if it weren’t for the presence of the man himself, there’s nothing to distinguish this as a Waititi movie. It’s fun enough, with all the eccentric teammates and inspiring montages you’d expect but there’s some of that Waititi magic missing.

It’s lacking any of the playful flourishes that once established him as a blockbuster director, and challenged conventions with moving films like Jojo Rabbit. The story of underdogs being coached into contenders is a formula that could have done with shaking up, particularly given a setting that Waititi has some connection to.

However, it’s a solid mid-table performance, giving the audience a reason to smile but nothing that you won’t see coming a mile off. Waititi in second gear is still worth watching, but this could have been so much more.

Next Goal Wins is in cinemas from 26^th December