Hash Import 2026 05 18 12 34

Next Goal Wins (2023)

★★★ — Next Goal Wins (2023)

Next Goal Wins is based on the 2014 documentary of the same name by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison, which followed the real Thomas Rongen's attempt to coach American Samoa ahead of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. The team had previously made headlines for the wrong reasons, losing 31-0 to Australia in 2001 (still a world record defeat). Taika Waititi directed here off the back of his huge Marvel run with Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder, and the film arrived in a slightly awkward position, delayed from its original 2022 release and quietly repositioned before a modest theatrical run in late 2023. Searchlight Pictures handled distribution, and the production leaned on New Zealand locations to stand in for the Pacific island setting.

A-Z World Tour Challenge American Samoa Michael Fassbender switches accents 4 times. Is he British? American? Irish? Dutch? Because you're going to hear all 4. Also... Taika Waititi just doesn't do comedy well. That aside... this overall was a good sports movie. It felt quite a bit like Cool Runnings, apart from the main character being an unlikeable drunk until the twist reveals why. I like a good sports movie and the fact it's loosely based on real life make this all the more endearing. Not to mention the fantastic look into life and culture on American Samoa. They've earned a fan in me.

Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2023 | Watched: 2025-05-21

View on Letterboxd →

Where to watch (UK)

Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK

Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.

Related on Movies With Macca

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) arrived at a strange crossroads in American cinema: too modest to be a prestige picture, too unsettling to be a forgettable B-movie. Adapted from Jack Finney’s serialised novel The Body Snatchers and shot at Allied Artists on a budget barely

Fantastic Planet (1973)

René Laloux’s Fantastic Planet (1973) is one of those films that doesn’t really fit anywhere: too cerebral for kids, too odd for animation festivals, too steeped in European political theory for the Saturday-morning slot, and too visually fearless to ignore. A 72-minute French–Czech co-production designed by the

Viy (1967)

Viy (1967) is a strange and almost solitary object in Soviet cinema: a horror film, an actual horror film with monsters and demons and supernatural set-pieces, in a national cinema that mostly didn’t make horror at all. Officially endorsed by Mosfilm and based on a Nikolai Gogol folktale, it

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Disney’s Alice in Wonderland (1951) is the studio’s middle-period work par excellence: technically polished, commercially tested, narratively cautious, and just slightly off. Made between two of Disney’s commercial successes (Cinderella in 1950, which had rescued the studio from one of its periodic financial near-misses, and Peter Pan

Read more

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Fantastic Planet (1973)

Viy (1967)

Alice in Wonderland (1951)