NO ONE I KNEW HAD A ping-pong table in their home when I was growing up. I had a couple of friends who had pool tables and one had a mini-roller coaster in their backyard, but that was it. The only opportunity I ever had was when we would take a driving trip, during my summer vacation, and the hotel happened to have a game room with a table set up. My feeble attempts at playing did not go unnoticed by me, but I was always willing to play. Though I did not play the game well, I still enjoyed it because it reminded me of a miniature tennis court. This was another game I rarely participated in because I did not have a tennis racket and with a borrowed one, I still was not good at playing it. Most of the time I was either running after balls I missed hitting; or, retrieving them after I had hit the ball into the tennis net. After a while I would get so exhausted from the running around that I had to stop playing. That is why I was curious about ping-pong; they were always set up indoors, in a room; and there was hardly any running around involved. Most of the time I could just stand in the middle, on my side of the table and try to hit the ball back.      IT WAS NOT UNTIL I WENT away to college that I had the opportunity to play ping-pong consistently. The student union hall on campus was the place to go to socialize with fellow students. There was a restaurant, television room, quiet space, and other various activities available for the student population. I lived in a studio off campus where each floor of the building had a communal kitchen. Across the hallway from me was a graduate student. I would meet him in the kitchen periodically because we had similar class schedules. He helped me with navigating through first-year requirements and I would share some of my food with him. The union hall was showing a movie over the weekend, and I asked if he wanted to go. He did and as we were walking past the game room, he asked if I played ping-pong. I explained my history and he offered to teach me. From that day we would be at the union at least three times a week playing the game. For eighteen months, I lost every single game. I still enjoyed myself despite the losing results; I was determined though to win at least one game and when it finally happened, that was the last time he played ping-pong with me. Having such determination was what I found myself attracted to in this comedic, sports drama.      MAKING THE HISTORY BOOKS FOR THE worst defeat in World Cup history, the American Samoa soccer team recruited a down on his luck coach, who had disciplinary issues in his past. Also, no one else wanted to take the job of coaching a team that had lost 31-0. With Michael Fassbender (The Killer, Song to Song) as Thomas Rongen, Oscar Kightley (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Samoan Wedding) as Tavita, newcomer Kaimana as Jaiyah, David Fane (The Tattooist, Eagle vs. Shark) as Ace and Rachel Howe (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire) as Ruth; this film inspired by true events had potential, but did not have the right mix in the script to connect with me. I did not care for the acting and cringed at some of the dialog. Also, I did not find much to laugh or chuckle about in the story. If the writers would have taken a more serious stand, I might have enjoyed watching this picture more, because the idea for the story was solid. Instead, what came across was a silly, slapstick mixed bag of emotions and feelings, with truly little for me to care about or want to invest in. There was an extra scene at the end of the closing credits.                   

1 ¾ stars