For fans still basking in the warm, three-season glow of “Ted Lasso,” Taika Waititi’s coaching-fish-out-of-water soccer comedy/drama “Next Goal Wins” might be a tough sell from the get-go, even though it turns out this feature film based on the true story of the American Samoa football aka soccer team actually has more in common with the likes of “The Bad News Bears,” “Slapshot,” “Hoosiers” and “The Mighty Ducks,” with the theme of a beleaguered and troubled coach placed in charge of a ragtag bunch of underdogs.
Alas, even though “Next Goal Wins” is inspired by the inspiring 2014 documentary of the same name about the indomitable spirit of the team, which suffered the worst World Cup loss of all time in a 31-0 massacre by Australia in 2001 yet kept on keeping on, and despite Waititi’s track record for originality and quirky, unexpected comedy (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “JoJo Rabbit”), this is a shoddy-looking, superficial and cliché-embracing effort that misses the mark at every turn.
