This one is a long way from Jo Jo Rabbit.

Heck, it is a long way from Thor: Love and Thunder.

I was excited about this movie, from Taika Waititi, since I saw the trailers. Michael Fassbender as a coach of soccer, trying to turn around a team from American Samoa that lost a FIFA match 31-0. A soccer game, 31-0. That just should not happen and yet it is a true story.

Sadly, the film was about as good as that soccer team. Not very good.

It was a typical sports movie, with the underdog team getting better as their coach struggled with his own problems.

The film was just not funny. The best parts of the film, I had already seen in the trailers, which I enjoyed. The rest of the film seemed childish and overly silly.

Taika Waititi does have skill at weaving in emotion to what should be a ridiculous situations and there are some moments at the third act that work well. Unfortunately, by that point, I was checked out and was not willing to check back in.

The reason Fassbender was the way he was could have been a real powerhouse moment, but it was not developed properly during the film and so it felt as if it came out of left field, excuse my mixing of sports metaphors.

Within the first ten minutes, I kept saying to myself, “Uh Oh.” I could feel that this wasn’t going to be an enjoyable time, but I held out my hope because I enjoy Waititi so much. The hope was gone soon after and it felt like a wasted opportunity for a really funny and enjoyable sports film.

2.2 stars