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Matty McLean is leaving Breakfast after 16 years of early starts (Design: Tina Tiller)
Matty McLean is leaving Breakfast after 16 years of early starts (Design: Tina Tiller)

Pop CultureNovember 22, 2023

Unicycles, chillies and interpretive dance: Matty McLean’s greatest Breakfast moments

Matty McLean is leaving Breakfast after 16 years of early starts (Design: Tina Tiller)
Matty McLean is leaving Breakfast after 16 years of early starts (Design: Tina Tiller)

As the sun sets on Matty McLean’s 16 years on Breakfast, we look back on some of the presenter’s most memorable moments. 

Breakfast presenter Matty McLean announced on Monday that he will be leaving TVNZ in December for a new role in radio. Having been part of the Breakfast team for an impressive 16 years, McLean’s departure will bring a delicious era of early morning TV chaos to a sad end. Not only has McLean hosted Breakfast for the past seven years, he has also delivered the weather, reported live from around the country and was the instigator (and victim) of many unforgettable live television moments. 

Since debuting on Breakfast in 2007, McLean has disappeared halfway through his own show, watched his colleagues shoot a tiny Donald Trump, and declared his fondness for moist meat. It seems McLean was easily persuaded to do anything for the cause of breakfast telly, no matter how ridiculous – from conquering his fear of heights to dressing up as a dinosaur, even chowing down on the world’s second hottest chilli. Before the dark day McLean disappears from our screens for good, we remember some of his greatest Breakfast moments. 

When he jumped the prime minister’s fence

McLean had mischief in his eyes and springs in his feet in 2010, when he jumped the (alarmingly low) fence at Premier House during a live cross to Breakfast. “Off you go, quick, quick, quick,” Breakfast presenter Paul Henry goaded from the studio, as McLean obediently clambered over the fence and breached the nation’s security without a moment’s hesitation. While Henry applauded from the studio, McLean was later seen apologising to a police officer who scolded McLean for being “silly”. 

When he gave the weather forecast dressed as a Tyrannosaurus rex

It’s been three years since this glorious piece of television, but I still think about the time McLean took one for the team and cheered up lockdown viewers by giving the weather forecast from inside an inflatable dinosaur costume. Not all heroes wear capes, New Zealand.

When he ate the world’s second hottest chilli

This astonishing behind-the-scenes footage of McLean eating the world’s second hottest chilli in 2010 reveals the agony he went through to create one spicy piece of TV magic. Instead of taking a tiny bite as instructed, McLean chomped down on half of the entire spicy pepper, and is probably still feeling that terrifying burn 13 years later. 

When he dropped an f-bomb live on air

You don’t get enough swears on the telly these days, so it was a treat to see McLean lose his shit when he lost his microphone earlier this year. Unaware the ad break was over and he was broadcasting live, McLean quickly apologised and launched into a story about the UK metropolitan police as if nothing had happened. Is that fear in his eyes? Seems fine. 

When he sang during his first Breakfast live cross

Back in 2007, a baby-faced Matt McLean (not yet christened “Matty” by Paul Henry) made his first ever live cross on Breakfast and started his career as he meant to go on. Looking like he might burst into tears at any moment, McLean discussed David Beckham’s upcoming visit to Wellington and then launched into an unexpected yet stirring rendition of  The Exponents ‘Victoria’. “What was his name again?” a jubilant Henry asked afterwards. “We’ll probably not see you on air again, but it was well worth the effort.”  

When he blended in with Breakfast’s new set

If he’s not wearing a dinosaur costume, we simply can’t see him.

When he spoke out against hate speech 

In 2018, the Breakfast team were discussing rugby player Israel Folau’s comments against legalising same-sex marriage, when McLean spoke from the heart about the damage that hate speech causes. “It’s really hard to watch people say these things, especially if you live your life as a proud gay man,” McLean said. “It’s tough to stand up and say ‘I’m proud of who I am and the way I live my life’. I wish we could get to a place where we can accept everyone for who they are and who they want to be.”   

When he tried to ride a unicycle 

While other Breakfast reporters yabbered on about life-saving dogs (boring) and visiting musicians (no thanks) in 2009, McLean put on his best suit and travelled to Palmerston North to ride a unicycle. “All anyone wants to see is you fall off that thing onto your ARRRSE,” Paul Henry announced, but McLean knew that where there’s a wheel, there’s a way.  

When he reunited with his siblings after lockdown

When Auckland’s borders reopened in December 2021, New Zealanders around the country enjoyed emotional reunions with their loved ones – including McLean, who reunited with his siblings for the first time in nearly three years. Tears flowed, both in the Queenstown airport arrivals lounge and the Breakfast studio. “It just reminds you of how much we’ve missed,” a weepy  Jenny-May Clarkson said. “Matty, thank you for sharing that with us.” 

When he gave the weather forecast via the medium of interpretive dance

Interpretive dance should be an Olympic sport, and this was a gold medal performance. Bravo, Matty McLean.

Breakfast screens on TVNZ1 from 6am every weekday morning and streams on TVNZ+.

‘Hutt Valley, Kāpiti, down to the south coast. Our Wellington coverage is powered by members.’
Joel MacManus
— Wellington editor
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The cast of Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins
The cast of Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins

Pop CultureNovember 21, 2023

Is Next Goal Wins a hit or a miss? Our reviews

The cast of Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins
The cast of Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins

After opening to mixed reviews overseas, Taika Waititi’s latest film had its New Zealand premiere on Monday night. Here’s what we made of it.

After years directing acclaimed and quintessentially New Zealand films, Taika Waititi hit the mainstream in 2017 when he helmed Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok. He followed that up two years later with something completely different in the Oscar-winning Jojo Rabbit. 

Since then, Waititi has dipped back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2022’s weakly received Thor: Love and Thunder) and taken on TV projects like Our Flag Means Death and the critically beloved Reservation Dogs. Now, he’s back at the cinema with Next Goal Wins.

Based on the 2014 documentary of the same name, it’s the true story of the American Samoa football team, at one point considered the worst team in the world, as they try to qualify for the Fifa World Cup with the help of their new coach Thomas Rongen, played here by Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender. Joining him is a supporting cast of local actors including Oscar Kightley, David Fane and Rachel House, alongside Americans Will Arnett and Elisabeth Moss. 

After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier in the year, critics haven’t been particularly impressed with Next Goal Wins. It’s sitting right now at a lukewarm 42% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ahead of its release in New Zealand cinemas early next month, we headed along to the film’s New Zealand premiere to see for ourselves.

Just watch the documentary instead

Next Goal Wins follows a football team on a tiny Pacific island as they try to score just a single goal in an international match. The film features an ensemble cast of colourful characters, including players, coaches, locals and officials, all loosely (or closely) resembling real people. Yet the opening shot of Taika Waititi’s latest feature is a shot of… Taika Waititi. 

That about sums up how the movie felt to watch: like I was watching a director phone it in, both in front of and behind the camera. The story itself is Hollywood fodder – a bunch of amateur players suffer embarrassing defeats to bigger football nations and a struggling professional coach is sent to turn the team around. Michael Fassbender delivers a solid and convincing performance as the frustrated Thomas Rongen, and the ensemble cast of footballers have great chemistry. David Fane stands out as the softly-spoken, quite bad coach that Rongen replaces. 

And then there’s Waititi, playing the local priest and randomly breaking the fourth wall in the opening scene to unnecessarily explain that American Samoa is very religious (something that is made clear through a number of more subtle scenes later on). There is no reason for Waititi to be in Next Goal Wins. His role is lifted, almost identically, from the priest role he played in Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Why? No idea, but it certainly doesn’t work. 

I enjoyed the soundtrack of classic Samoan hymns and I enjoyed seeing the team and lesser known actors shining. I did not enjoy the handling of Jaiyah’s story as a fa’afine player. From what I remember, and from comments she’s made since this movie was released, Jaiyah’s gender identity didn’t impact her place in the team or her relationship to Rongen. Waititi elevates her gender to become a point of tension (somewhat expected in a Hollywood story) but doesn’t elevate it enough for the clumsy education of Rongen to feel warranted. And while the story certainly feels Samoan thanks to the supporting cast, there are still a few lazy gags that are less culturally insensitive and more culturally nonsensical (after a number of jokes about the team’s religion and church, they’re shown hesitantly mumbling through a popular kids song, out of tune and out of time).  

Next Goal Wins, the 2014 documentary following the American Samoa football team as it struggles to win a single match or even score a goal, is heartwarming, funny and sensitively told. Next Goals Wins, the 2023 feature film based off the documentary and directed by Taika Waititi, is not. I’d recommend watching the documentary.

The one silver lining is that Waititi filming a Samoan movie and casting himself as a Samoan priest might finally explain why Rita Ora thinks her husband is Samoan. / Madeleine Chapman

Works better as a straight comedy

The underdog sports biopic is a format as tried as true as the rom com. While Next Goal Wins is ostensibly based on fact, and so the whole “will they or won’t they win” storyline is ingrained loosely in reality, it’s nonetheless told in a way that somehow makes you forget these were real people. 

Taika Waititi’s last non-Marvel project Jojo Rabbit may have been divisive, but it was inarguably ambitious, emotional and original. None of these can really be said about Next Goal Wins, a by-the-book comedy that does manage to generate consistent laughs, a few moments of Hollywood heartstring pulling and showcase some good performances. But while the film works best as a mainstream comedy, and one that will likely find favour with audiences going into the summer break, it fails as a biopic and when compared with Waititi’s strongest works it falls behind the pack.

It could simply be that the ensemble cast is too unwieldy for Waititi’s skills as a director. His best work, like Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Boy, focus on a small, core group. In Next Goal Wins, he has a whole team to make us care about. Aside from the story of fa’afine player Jaiyah, and to a lesser extent Oscar Kightley’s team manager Tavita, we learn very little about the players or their lives. In true sports biopic fashion, most scenes of the team training sessions are shown in montage, though it would have been more powerful to linger a little bit longer on the characters themselves. Somehow, Waititi even has time to pop up himself in a bizarre cameo.

Michael Fassbender delivers as the real life coach Thomas Rongen, and the supporting cast of familiar faces are all joyous to watch when given an opportunity. But by telling the story from the perspective of possibly the least interesting personality (Rongen), and even then barely scratching the surface of his story until the final act, I can’t help but feel there was a much better film to be made with this cast of characters and this moving story. / Stewart Sowman-Lund

Good cast, good laughs

My thoughts and feelings: Next Goal Wins was an enjoyable motion picture, navigating through some cultural and spiritual barriers with island humour. In a strange opening scene, Takia’s character explains how religious the island is… which is how most Pasifika move. The island pace and environment was enough to put me in a good mood (or maybe it was the wines) while the beautiful singing took me back to church. Something about a hymn vibrates your eardrums differently – IYKYK.

David Fane who plays Ace is my MVP. As super softly spoken coach, who’s just there for his people. We all need an Ace in our lives, someone to bring us back into the slow lane with some positivity and reminding us that whatever it is, it’s OK. Good cast, good laughs. / Tina Tiller

Next Goal Wins opens in cinemas on December 7, with previews beginning December 3.

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