Once In A Lifetime Movie Review

Once In A Lifetime is a documentary directed by Paul Crowder and John Dower about the New York Cosmos soccer team. The documentary consists of the actually players commentary and other associates of the Cosmos commentary. These people explain things that went on and their emotions and reactions to things that happened to the team. The movie focuses on the struggles and triumphs of the team. It follows their path to victory and everything that occurred with this team.

Steven Ross was really the creator of the team, he saw a potential for it, loved the game, and had an extreme passion for it. When the Cosmos were first starting out soccer was not a big thing in America, so they had to make themselves known. During the 1960’s soccer did not even really exist, but the 1970’s is when it really began to take off. The cosmos suffered intense losing streaks until Pele was brought in to be on the team. He was the star athlete and the heart and soul of the team. There was no stopping him and everyone loved him. He led the team to multiple wins and a championship title.

All I can do is complain about this movie, it was so boring and probably a bit over my head. I am sure and glad that the team probably loved making this and are happy they have a movie made about themselves, but it was just not my cup of tea. I don’t think it helps that it is a movie based on things that happened before I was born. At first it took time getting acquainted with the accents. Then all it was was the team players and associates taking about the team and random things that I did not really care about. The most aggravating thing was the fact that it was all about Pele I got the impression at the begging of the movie it would be about the team, but no. Pele this Pele that, if all they were going to talk about was Pele, the movie should have been called Pele’s Career on the New York Cosmo’s.

But I do have to give some good notes to because I did learn about a soccer team I did not even know anything about. Some of the parts were interesting and caught my attention. One thing I found interesting was the fact that soccer was not popular in America. This surprised me because American’s are so competitive and athletic I question why they did not find and interest and want to play it. Overall this movie was not my favorite, but it does have some memorable and impacting events.

 I would give this movie a 3/5 stars.