REVIEW: Challengers
Tennis flick doesn't serve up any heat.
When Challengers hit theaters in the spring of ’24 most of the cultural buzz surrounded the fact that there was a threesome in the movie between Zendaya and her two male co-stars Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor. And something, something tennis.
I got the feeling that the threesome aspect was pushed to get asses in seats and my general take was that the movie got great reviews as a whole. The vibe was that it was a witty, sexy, love triangle set in the world of professional tennis. In fact, it sits Certified Fresh at 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s pretty damn good and because I tend to agree with critical consensus I finally gave it a watch last night.
Because it’s been streaming for a bit, I’ll keep this review relatively short: I TOTALLY disagree with the consensus on this film and would give it MAYBE 3/5 stars.
Challengers was directed by Luca Guadagnino who also brought us Call Me by Your Name, so he knows how to create sexual tension and exploit carnal pleasure. And don’t get me wrong, Zendaya is about as beautiful as they come. I think the two male leads are kind of goofy looking, but who cares.
Bring on the sexy time!
The said, the threesome really isn’t a threesome. It’s just some kissing to set up the love triangle that plays out for the rest of the film, volleying between flashback and present day — distinguishable only by the length of Zendaya hair. Beyond the lack of a real threesome, there really aren’t any other great sex scenes. It’s all meant to be brooding lust between the three in both the present and past.
After the non-threesome, Zendaya is now married to the nicer of the two dudes. He’s a famous pro and she’s his equally famous coach. But, he’s faltering and meets back up with his old friend and rival who is barely surviving on the semi-pro circuit. So, this finals match between them is much more than a game.
It’s a pretty simple premise. The main problem is, I didn’t give a shit about the outcome. Or any of the characters. That kind of blows the whole game, because the way Guadagnino ramps up the match it really should mean something to the viewer.
And when I say Guadagnino ramps it up, I mean to insane levels. First, there’s a storm the night before the match which is really just strong winds blowing around an insane amount of paper. Is New Rochelle, New York known lots of paper laying around?
During most of the film Guadagnino does a nice job filming the tennis action. But for the ultimate match he goes ALL IN with every filming technique he could think of: Camera POV from the player, POV from the ball, camera shot from below with players on a glass court. And then there’s the slow-motion stuff that goes on way, way too long. It all screams THIS IS THE MOST DRAMATIC THING EVER!
But when you don’t care it just comes off as excessive at best and comical at worst. Or both. There’s also a weird use of music throughout. I think idea is to put crazy beats on trivial scenes but not the important scenes. I’m not sure, but it didn’t work for me.
So, that’s it. I’d try to come up with witty tennis metaphor, but it’s not worth it.
Pass.