Taika Waititi’s new comedy is continuing a problem that’s run through most of his recent films. By the time Waititi helmed Thor: Ragnarok, he already had an embarrassment of great movies and TV shows behind him. He had directed the critically lauded likes of horror comedy What We Do in the Shadows and dramedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople, in addition to writing and helming multiple episodes of Flight of the Conchords. His comic touch offered the reinvention the Thor movies desperately needed, and re-energized audience appreciation for Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder.
Waititi has been something of a workaholic in the years since and is set to start work on his highly anticipated Star Wars movie sometime in 2024. However, Waititi’s next film is Next Goal Wins, a long-delayed sports comedy that he actually shot before Thor: Love and Thunder. Those delays have been partly attributed to reshoots to replace a character played by Armie Hammer with Will Arnett. Nevertheless, the fact it’s arriving almost four years after it began production is cause for concern, and early reviews suggest Waititi has repeated some bad habits he’s developed as a filmmaker.
Next Goal Wins Reviews Suggest A Comedy & Tone Problem For Taika Waititi’s Movie
The new Taika Waititi movie hasn’t received any outright pans, but many reviews for Next Goal Wins highlight both its lack of originality and trouble balancing comedy with drama. Namely, it appears the film leans harder into the comedic side of things, to the point where it actively undermines any genuine emotion the story is trying to evoke. It should be noted that the reviews praise the film’s feel-good nature and heartfelt tone, but they also carry an undercurrent of disappointment that Waititi’s new film wasn’t quite worth the extended wait.
Taika Waititi Has Been Struggling With Tonal Balance For Years
The early responses to Next Goal Wins only reinforces issues that have been present in Waitaki’s work for years. On the surface, Thor: Ragnorok’s story features some of the most impactful moments of the franchise, from the death of Odin (Anthony Hopkins) to Thor losing an eye or the destruction of Asgard itself, but the film’s focus on keeping things light takes the sting out of many of these moments. Audiences had such a good time with the threequel this considered wasn’t much of an issue, but it came into stark focus with Love and Thunder.
The fourth Thor movie is so focused on scoring laughs and being goofy that when it tries to infuse the story with emotion – such as Jane Foster’s cancer subplot – these moments ring hollow. To his credit, Waititi did a better job with the balancing of laughter and darkness on 2019’s Jojo Rabbit, but again, it sometimes felt like one tone would overpower the other. Given the subject matter of JoJo it’s almost miraculous the film is as funny as it is, but its weakest moments almost always involve pushing the humor a little too hard.
It appears that Next Goal Wins is following a trajectory where Waititi seems also afraid of letting emotional moments breathe, and feels the need to force a gag to lighten things up. Part of his appeal as both a performer and director is his sharp wit and seeming inability to take things too seriously, but there’s a flippancy to his recent work that ultimately hurts them. Next Goal Wins sounds like it should be a perfect project for Waititi with its mix of a heartwarming, real-life story with a healthy dose of humor, but it’s only serving to continue a frustrating trend for him.
Hunt For The Wilderpeople Makes Taika Waititi’s Struggles More Frustrating
2016’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople is one of the movies that made Waititi’s name and is arguably his best work as a director. It’s a film that manages to be both hilarious and deeply moving, and it never undersells its characters or the story for the sake of an easy quip. The film is proof that Waititi knows how to pitch the right tonal balance, even if his recent work has struggled to do so. It certainly sounds like Next Goal Wins is an improvement on Love and Thunder, which is a film where it felt like Waititi was allergic to taking any scene seriously.
Ultimately, Waititi sets out to make crowd-pleasing movies, and on that score, he almost always succeeds. Even with their tonal imbalances, there’s great stuff in both Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit, and he’s a filmmaker who can pull committed work out of his actors. There’s also nothing inherently wrong with a film that prioritizes making audiences laugh over pathos. If the feedback on his most recent work does anything, hopefully, it convinces Taika Waititi that it’s fine to swing the pendulum back the other way and give the dramatic side of his work some room to breathe.
key release dates
Next Goal Wins
Release Date:2023-11-17
