Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos (2006)
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 60
Fresh: 49 | Rotten: 11
You don't have to be a soccer fan to enjoy this stylish, breezy slice of 1970s sports history.
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 20
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 2
You don't have to be a soccer fan to enjoy this stylish, breezy slice of 1970s sports history.
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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 1,344
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Movie Info
While professional soccer is still struggling to find a firm foothold in the United States, in the 1970s the North American Soccer League marked the brave first attempt to introduce the game to American sports fans. While most teams had only limited success at best, one did manage to break through to genuine mainstream popularity -- the New York Cosmos. The brainchild of Steve Ross (a passionate soccer fan who was also a major executive at Warner Communications) and Ahmet Ertegun and Nesuhi
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All Critics (61) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (50) | Rotten (11) | DVD (6)
... treats its audience like a bunch of attention deficit disorder cases.
Top Critic... accomplishes the minor miracle of making you mourn a sports team you likely never knew existed in the first place.
Once in a Lifetime, which relies on interviews and archival footage, may not be a great documentary, but it certainly gets its points across.
Once in a Lifetime would have benefited greatly from historical and outside perspective, but the story on screen is such a kick that even monotone narrator Matt Dillon gets caught up in the excitement.
A cavalcade of theatrical personalities, juicy war stories, unforgiven grievances and old-school cinema dazzle.
An energetic and often enjoyable documentary, particularly for soccer fans.
Once in a Lifetime is like a soccer team that plays good defense but lacks offense.
Well-researched and exuberantly compiled, this is a thoroughly entertaining tribute to America's first tackle at surgically implanting the beautiful game.
An honest portrayal of the rise and fall of a one-time American sports icon, even if that status was short-lived.
Not being a soccer fan, the Cosmos phenomenon had no impact on me at the time nor does this energetic film change that opinion.
mostly I'm stricken with nostalgia for '70s fashion and Marv Albert's hairdo
An energetically told tale, with eccentric characters to spare and a nostalgically bittersweet tone.
With just a little tweaking ... could be reworked in a Christopher Guest-style mockumentary of swollen egos and corporate whimsy.
Packed with observations and recrimations, many of the latter aimed at or by Chinaglia, which makes for some gossipy entertainment.
... the film is bursting with astonishing old footage, hip tunes, vivid interviews and you-couldn't- make-it-up anecdotes.
Once in a Lifetime is a marvelous primer on this remarkable event in soccer history, most likely never to be seen again.
It's a rags-to-riches story that shows how American money and imagination revolutionized not just a team, but the entire sport of soccer, back then and still to this day.
Once in a Lifetime is riveting cinema for at least an hour, after which it starts to feel a bit like thumbing through a scrapbook. But American soccer fans -- and those interested in the business of sports -- will eat it up.
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July 6, 2006:
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Foreign Titles
- Once in a Lifetime (DE)
- Once in a Lifetime (UK)
[font=Century Gothic]The effect that the Cosmos had on soccer in the United States was almost negligible and it would not be until the 1994 World Cup, that soccer would be firmly established here with Major League Soccer. The overall mistake was in aiming too high, making the league too top heavy by signing expensive world players and concentrating them in New York, thus laying a foundation of cards. There would have been no problem with more modest aims in starting from the ground up. Plus, the North American Soccer League had 24 teams at its peak compared to 13 currently for Major League Soccer. The documentary lays the blame at the feet of egotistical star player Giorgio Chinaglia. Right reason but wrong ego. Steve Ross should get the lion's share of credit for the success of the league but also the blame for its downfall.[/font]