Next Goal Wins
Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: November 17, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
44
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
19
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Arizona RepublicKaely MonahanNov 16, 2023
It's not a usual story: a down on its luck team that has its own way of doing things turns a jaded coach into a human with a heart. We've all seen that before. But, Waititi's singular style makes it a joy to watch and a film worth cheering for. Read full review
85
TheWrapMartin TsaiSep 13, 2023
Next Goal Wins is [Waititi's] best and most crowd-pleasing effort to date. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt MaytumSep 12, 2023
As far as sports movies go, there’s no reinventing of the wheel. All the requisite beats are hit, albeit with self-deprecating humour and knowing genre references. But within that familiar framework, the underdog story is very effectively delivered, thanks in large part to a charming bunch of supporting characters, and a consistently funny script by Waititi and the Inbetweeners’ Iain Morris. Read full review
80
BBCKaleem AftabSep 11, 2023
Waititi's winning, winsome film is his most accessible and mainstream movie to date, Marvel aside, one that successfully mixes in funny jokes with zeitgeisty social commentary. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanNov 14, 2023
Ultimately, Next Goal Wins isn’t really a sports movie at all, but one whose deceptively simple mantras — “Be happy” and “There’s more to life than soccer” — are the most subversive (and winning) things about it. Read full review
75
PolygonRafael MotamayorSep 14, 2023
There just isn’t much to differentiate Next Goal Wins from any other cliche-ridden underdog sports story. But what does salvage it is Taika Waititi’s ability to create quirky worlds filled with lovable characters. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubJustin LoweNov 17, 2023
Next Goal Wins may not seem like the most original film, but the fact that it’s based on actual, if somewhat improbable, events means that it ultimately earns its uplifting perspective, owing largely to Waititi’s heartfelt commitment to the story. Read full review
67
Original-CinChris KnightNov 16, 2023
It’s decent, adequate fun. Read full review
67
The Film StageJared MobarakSep 11, 2023
Despite there being zero surprises from start to finish as it fulfills its mass-marketed, for-profit formula, Next Goal Wins never talks down to us. It ensures its characters learn from their mistakes and that any mean-spiritedness is exposed as being about the giver rather than the receiver. Read full review
67
ColliderRoss BonaimeSep 10, 2023
Waititi’s latest isn’t bad by any stretch, and isn’t close to his worst (again, Love and Thunder, watch your ass), but as a sports film and a comedy, it is fairly average. Read full review
65
CNNBrian LowryNov 17, 2023
Ultimately, Next Goal Wins derives most of its modest charm from the film’s sheer unpretentiousness, which also makes it light enough to feel fairly disposable, despite being equipped with likable characters and scenic locales. Read full review
64
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 15, 2023
The talented performers are ultimately overmatched by a janky script that telegraphs every emotional swerve and narrative beat as if audiences are not to ever be trusted. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJan 10, 2024
Even when he’s not mugging on screen, Waititi’s personality is evident in every frame, which suggests that he is rather overestimating the level of audience goodwill towards him, which has been depleted by the divisive Jojo Rabbit and the mediocre Thor: Love and Thunder. Read full review
60
EmpireJohn NugentDec 20, 2023
Waititi’s shtick runs thin, and there are badly misguided moments, but this is still a warm, heart-mostly-in-the-right-place portrait of a momentously poor sports team. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawDec 20, 2023
The whole film is a little rough-and-ready in the way it’s put together, but it’s amiable and well-intentioned and the laughs are real. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredFrancisca TinocoNov 13, 2023
There's a lot of heart and good intentions in Next Goal Wins but wonky pacing, a confusing emotional arc for its main character, and a handful of uninspired scenes come close to rendering all that useless. Read full review
60
Screen DailyWendy IdeSep 11, 2023
Like the mismatched team from the Pacific Island, the picture is big-hearted and sweet-natured, but it is also rather lacking in polish and staying power. Read full review
56
Paste MagazineUrsula Munoz S.Nov 22, 2023
There’s an inspiring story at the center of Next Goal Wins, but that story deserves better. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldNov 16, 2023
Mostly Next Goal Wins just plods along, agreeable and familiar and instantly forgettable. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 16, 2023
This is a shoddy-looking, superficial and cliché-embracing effort that misses the mark at every turn. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearNov 15, 2023
No one’s denying that American Samoa’s brief moment of victory — it didn’t make it to Cup playoffs, yet it’s never been in last place again — is a major coup. So why does this feel like such a lost opportunity for all involved? Read full review
50
The Associated PressMark KennedyNov 15, 2023
Next Goal Wins isn’t a tale of “woe” or “woah!” but “meh.” Read full review
50
Screen RantPatrice WitherspoonSep 14, 2023
It’s goofy and relies heavily on common tropes, failing to offer insight into the players as people outside their team. Read full review
50
The PlaylistCharles BramescoSep 11, 2023
Will success spoil Taika Waititi? The answer implied by “Next Goal Wins” isn’t encouraging for the future of an original comic voice still audible but slowly fading into the chorus. Read full review
50
IndieWireEsther ZuckermanSep 11, 2023
Next Goal Wins is largely a misfire, one that’s too unwilling to stop kidding around for even the most important of moments. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeSep 10, 2023
The film works best when Waititi gets out of his own way and lets the characters speak for themselves instead of self-consciously extinguishing any warmth with jokes. Read full review
50
The Daily BeastNick SchagerSep 10, 2023
The best one can say about it is that it at least doesn’t feature a lovably cartoonish genocidal dictator. Read full review
40
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeJan 2, 2024
Based on an acclaimed documentary, the film looks to be asking us to fill in the many gaps in its Swiss-cheese narrative. Read full review
40
Little White LiesMark AschDec 28, 2023
In Next Goal Wins, Taika Waititi depicts Samoans the same way he depicted Hitler in Jojo Rabbit: as absolutely adorable. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 11, 2023
The film is a shoddily made and strikingly unfunny attempt to tell an interesting story in an uninteresting way. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 10, 2023
The idea is to have a good time, and Waititi knows how to give audiences that. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzNov 17, 2023
Next Goal Wins exists as proof of the invulnerability of a certain movie template and as a Frankenstein patchwork of previous films. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineJustin ClarkNov 15, 2023
Next Goal Wins feels like five different films, all of them failing to coalesce in an effective way because every 30 seconds the script thinks it has to crack wise. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleNov 17, 2023
The overall flavor profile indicates that Waititi, whose own cartoonish appearance as a priest feels like an afterthought, has become bored with his signature brand of goofy uplift. Going by the unfunny self-referential gags (“The Karate Kid,” “The Matrix,” “Taken”), you’d swear the Oscar-winning filmmaker was struggling with the impulse to go full parody. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleAlejandra MartinezNov 15, 2023
It’s a shame that Waititi’s return to Indigenous-centered filmmaking is marred by regressive narrative choices and lazy jokes. Otherwise, we might have had a real winner on our hands. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreSep 11, 2023
There are a few funny sequences . . . But the film is otherwise so sloppily assembled, and so lazy, that it frequently ends up feeling like an inadvertent parody of the underdog-sports genre it belongs to. Read full review
25
The AtlanticDavid SimsNov 20, 2023
It’s undeniably the worst film Waititi has ever produced, a hash of lazy jokes and “random” humor centered on one of the most uncomfortable lead performances I’ve ever seen in a comedy. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonNov 16, 2023
This film’s comic antics are relentless, exhausting, and devastatingly unfunny. Waititi’s script (co-written with Iain Morris) can’t go 30 seconds without attempting a laugh — and failing most of the time. Read full review
25
ObserverLaura BabiakNov 15, 2023
Next Goal Wins is an empty quasi-comedy, filled with cliche jokes and tired bits. Read full review
20
The TelegraphRobbie CollinDec 22, 2023
After a while, it’s as if Thomas’s self-loathing begins to rub off on the script, which keeps undercutting should-be-resonant moments with smirking references to other films. Read full review
20
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisNov 16, 2023
Bland photography and perfunctory writing are the very least of my issues with Next Goal Wins, a movie-shaped stain on the class of entertainment known as the sports-underdog comedy. Read full review
20
SlashfilmBarry LevittSep 15, 2023
Next Goal Wins feels like it's made by a director out of ideas — it's a film made up of lazy, visually vacant, and soulless filmmaking. Read full review
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