A 53 might be the lowest Metacritic score of any movie I’ve watched. Goal “earned” its way to the bottom. The movie was on my Netflix queue because it was a pitched as a Rocky on the soccer field. In its outline, yes, that’s true. Other than making Newcastle seem scenic, Goal is simply trying to sell soccer (football). An illegal immigrant from Mexico playing in a local league in Los Angeles is noticed by a visiting ex-Newcastle United player and one-time scout. Run through Rocky script, and guess who scores the winning goal over arch-rival Manchester United to earn a trip to the Champion’s League? I’m skipping several other cliches, but there you go. Propaganda for FIFA, plain and simple.
For the first movie of a supposed trilogy, wouldn’t you keep the original website working? Maybe Buena Vista Pictures (read: Disney) realized this wasn’t that good, either. I did find the actual website, and it’s touting the second part of the trilogy, coming this year. Oh goody!