Review: Goat – For the love of the game

Directed by Tyree Dillihay
Starring Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, Aaron Pierre, David Harbour, Nicola Coughlan

7.5/10

Since he was a kid, Will (Caleb McLaughlin) has been a fan of the local roarball team, the Thorns, and their champion player, Jett (Gabrielle Union). It made such an impression on him that he swore in that moment to become a player for that team. There is one issue, though: the common wisdom that “small can’t ball”, but this goat still thinks that he can make that dream come true.

There’s a lot of sports film cliches packed into Goat. The poor aspiring rookie that breaks the mould trying to take his shot, the ageing champ looking for their elusive crowning achievement, the down-and-out misfit team, the burnt-out coach, the scheming owner…it’s all there and more. Yet what should come off as a pastiche of sports tropes instead plays as a heartfelt love letter to the genre. Goat might be packed with jokes and riotous chaos, but it treats “the love of the game” with po-faced solemnity. This elevates it, giving genuine emotional stakes and consequences. It’s not played with a wry, iconic wink to the audience; rather, there’s a genuine passion for sports that places it in a league with Field of Dreams, Rocky, or Salute of the Jugger.

This is spearheaded by Caleb McLaughlin and Gabrielle Union. As Will and Jett, respectively, they set the tone for the film as the idealistic rookie and the embittered veteran. In their voices you can hear conviction, a conveyance of their love of team and sport, the community that it created, and the pride of that shared history. Sure, roarball is a made-up game in a fantastical anthropomorphic world, but they seem to tap into something genuine from real-life experience.

Add to this a collection of talented actors (Nicola Coughlan, David Harbour, Patton Oswalt) voicing the misfit Thorn team and the animation workshop at Sony (responsible for Spider-Verse films and K-pop Demonhunters), and you have really got something. The world is lovingly created in a painterly style, giving the animation a very textured look. You can feel the verdant heat of Vineland radiating from the screen. The character designs are distinct and evocative. And the action is smooth and fluid.

A full-throated love letter to sport films, Goat brings the passion for the game to the big screen.

DAVID O’CONNELL