User Reviews

There is a contest at the Springfield Elementary School about who each student idolizes and Lisa finds that her idol is the same of her schoolmate. Bart suggests that she could give a speech about her father Homer and she expresses admiration for his honesty and integrity. A FIFA representative recruits Homer to referee the World Cup in Brazil and the family travels with all the expenses paid by FIFA. Homer distinguishes for his honesty and integrity but Brazilian gangsters offer bribe to him to help Brazil in the final game. Will Homer resist and keep his honor?

"You Don't Have to Live Like a Referee" shows the Simpson's family in Brazil during the World Cup 2014. There are hilarious moments, like for example Marge trying to learn Portuguese. But the episode could have been better and better. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not available

You Don't Have to Live Like a Referee is a great Simpsons episode with a well written storyline and a ton of very funny scenes.I really loved seeing the Simpson family go to the World Cup in Brazil and seeing Homer as a referee there.This show has made popular events the subject of an episode so many times that I'm surprised they hadn't had a World Cup episode sooner.but it was certainly a fun episode that I think longtime fans of the World Cup would definitely find hilarious.You Don't Have to Live Like Referee is a very enjoyable Simpsons episode.

Homer kicks off a new career when,making his way to Brazil,he's recruited as a 2014 World Cup referee.

Kind of racist but it is how fox do this. An episode which Homer tries to be a good father Even with all the money he has been offered. Really creative jokes and so much funny moments. This is what i call a Simpsons episode.

From about 10 years USA is quaite good at soccer. But the most of the Americas still know nothing about that game... And you can see that in this episode. Football (as some call soccer) is popular on 4 continents, not only 2 of them. If you are looking for mafia and buying the matches, you should learn about FIFA. Not some local gangsters from Brasil. That was so naive.

And if you what to be a referee in World Cup, you have to work for it for a very, very long time. Cos rules in soccer are to complicated. I know it's animated series not a documentary, but you need better research.

For me, a big footy fan, that was very sloppy episode. And remember last World Cup final was watched by 15 billions people. NFL finals 100 millions people. ;)

I thought Homer was the villain of The Simpsons Movie, and Russ Cargill was the hero, but I was wrong. Eventually, Russ Cargill became the villain and Homer became the hero. When Martin has the same idea for a hero as Lisa and does Marie Curie, she has to pick Homer to be her hero, and mentions great things Homer did for her in Lisa's Pony and Marge Gamer. This inspires Brazil to hire Homer as a football referee, and he needs to prove himself as a hero to Brazil and to Lisa by not accepting any bribes given to him. Marge also has a few scenes where she tries to learn Brazilian Portuguese on an iPad, which seem unrelated to the main plot at first, but comes together really well at the end for reasons I can not spoil.

"You Don't Have to Live Like a Referee" follows Homer as he is selected to referee the World Cup in Brazil, but is faced with bribes and corruption at every turn. One of the biggest issues with the episode is its reliance on recycled plot lines. Many of the jokes and gags feel surreal. The jokes about Brazil, Brazilian culture, and the World Cup are also rather lazy and not particularly funny, which is a shame considering the potential for satire and commentary on these topics.

Furthermore, the episode has a surreal quality that doesn't quite work. The bizarre visual gags feel out of place, and take away from the already weak storyline.

Overall, "You Don't Have to Live Like a Referee" is a disappointing episode of The Simpsons. While the episode is popular for its prediction of the World Cup champion and for the Spanish viewers for the couch gag, the recycled plot lines, weak jokes, and surreal elements make for a lackluster viewing experience. However, I did enjoy and found it funny the cameo of the samba teacher insulting Marge.