Documentary Review: 'Maybe Next Year' For the Love of Eagles Fans

Maybe Next Year is a love letter to the fans of the Philadelphia Eagles. This documentary from director Kyle Thrash could not be more loving and endearing toward some of the most vocal, colorful and controversial fans on the planet. To say that fans in Philly have a reputation is an understatement but that’s not what Maybe Next Year is about. Instead of being a lengthy, hand-wringing lament of what Philly did to Santa Claus, Maybe Next Year is just about the Super Bowl and the fans so desperate to see a Super Bowl win in their lifetime.

In 2018 fans of the Philadelphia Eagles had reason to be very excited about football. The offseason had kindly given the Eagles the chance to draft top quarterback Carson Wentz, a strapping prototype quarterback with a big arm and talent to spare. He may have been a rookie but he had the tools to be a superstar and when Carson Wentz immediately began looking like a star, a long time black cloud over Philly sports fans began to lift.

Then Wentz got hurt. With just a couple games remaining in the regular season, Carson Wentz injured his knee bad enough to end his season. With no more superstar quarterback, it appeared that the black cloud was returning and that it was destined to be another chilly, sad and championship free winter in Philly. Then a miracle happened. Backup Quarterback Nick Foles slowly began to find his way and improbably, the Eagles regained their form to make it to the biggest game of the season, a Super Bowl match up with Tom Brady and the Patriots.

Maybe Next Year isn’t really about any of this. Rather, Maybe Next Year is all about the fans. Director Kyle Thrash uses the Eagles improbable Super Bowl run to highlight several human dramas in the forms of Eagles Fan Shirley, Angry Eagles Fan Bryant, Jesse the Dad and Barry the Retiree. These four unique personalities are at the forefront of Maybe Next Year and their decency, longing and humanity are the reason to see Maybe Next Year.

Eagles Fan Shirley looks as if she belongs at the front of a church choir and instead, she’s a minor radio celebrity in Philadelphia where her lengthy, loud and proud inspirational speeches before Eagles games on local radio have become a staple of the fan community. This lovely grandmotherly lady is obsessed with the Eagles and what the universe, in her mind, owes to her and the Eagles fan community. Her intensity borders on obnoxious but her enthusiasm off the radio makes her endearing.

Angry Eagles Fan EDP445, identified as Bryant in the movie, is a minor YouTube Celebrity. Bryant went from working at WalMart to having a YouTube channel with more than 2 million followers all because he filmed himself getting violently angry following an Eagles loss. Bryant has a tragic quality to him, despite his success he still lives with his dad and longs to have a girlfriend more than anything in the world. There is a sweetness that underlies Bryant’s unhealthy obsession with the Eagles that Maybe Next Year captures well.

Dad Jesse has the most genuinely emotional thread in Maybe Next Year. Jesse has an autistic son who he is teaching to be an Eagles fan. It’s as much about Jesse’s own Eagles obsession as it is about a father trying to find any way he can to further his bond with his autistic child. The Eagles miracle season also coincides with Jesse losing his own father who is glimpsed several times during the movie. There is an uncomfortable sort of suspense over whether Jesse’s dad will get to see the Eagles win a Super Bowl and while I hate looking at it that way, it’s something that lingers over Maybe Next Year.

The final part of this ragtag ensemble of lovable, over the top fans is Barry. Barry has just retired after decades at a job that wasn’t meaningful enough to be remembered. Barry’s not defined by his years of service to some company, he’s defined by his dedicated love of the Eagles. Barry somehow convinced his loving wife to pass up a warm retirement community in Florida so that he could build an addition on to their home and turn it into the ultimate Eagles man cave.

Inside, every Sunday, Barry invites his entire neighborhood over to watch the game while he bangs on drums, wears a cape and helmet and generally has about as good a time as a human being can possibly have… when the Eagles are winning. Losses are a little more morose but unlike Bryant, Barry prefers to sleep off the losses on his couch in his man cave instead of breaking things in his home.

We’ve seen documentaries similar to Maybe Next Year before. Profiles of oddball fans aren’t uncommon in the world of Sports Documentaries. What sets Maybe Next Year apart is how much fun the characters of Maybe Next Year are and how genuinely odd and poignant they can be. Shirley is incongruous to a comic degree in sports fandom, Bryant is a sad, angry clown looking for love, Jesse is an incredibly strong everyman going through serious traumas and leaning on sports as a link to joy, and Barry… Barry’s just a sweetheart.

The characters are unique and against my will, as someone who doesn’t like Philadelphia sports, I was won over by them. I started to like these people. Maybe Next Year overcame my defenses and made me like these Eagles fans, even as I still hate the Eagles on principle. If you enjoy quirky comical sports loving weirdos, Maybe Next Year is the movie for you.

Maybe Next Year is available for pre-order now via MaybeNextYearFilm.com.