In the wake of “King Richard,” Will Smith’s heartwarming biopic about Serena and Venus Williams’ controversial patriarch, a new movie about tennis, even one framed as a romantic drama, seemed like it would inevitably be a pretty square affair. “Challengers,” starring Zendaya as the focal point of a years-long love triangle between tennis players, could have easily been that. But in director Luca Guadagnino’s hands, it is arguably the horniest, queerest picture to involve a tennis court since Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train.”
Luckily, no one gets murdered in this one, but it’s no less intense or thrilling for its lack of physical violence. All the damage here is emotional.
When the film begins, we’re watching the finals of a tennis tournament between Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor). Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) watches from the stands, initially focused entirely on Art, before shifting her gaze to the other side of the net when Patrick begins to take the upper hand. But this isn’t the climax of a prestigious event, but rather a “Challenger” in New Rochelle, the lower-level competitions professional players have to grind it out in to qualify on the grander stage.
The film peels back the layers of these three figures’ histories together for the next two hours. Every successive flashback feels like a friend is telling you a story, but they keep forgetting crucial details and have to double back to fill in the blanks. Each new reveal drastically recontextualizes what we think we know about the fraught present-day tennis match we keep cutting back to.
The film peels back the layers of these three figures’ histories together for the next two hours. Every successive flashback feels like a friend is telling you a story, but they keep forgetting crucial details and have to double back to fill in the blanks. Each new reveal drastically recontextualizes what we think we know about the fraught present-day tennis match we keep cutting back to.
At various turns, the underlying themes are an extrapolation of different conflicts. First, we discover that Art and Tashi are married and that Art is one U.S. Open win away from a career Grand Slam. Patrick, his opponent, had to sleep in his car because his card was declined at a hotel the night before the tournament. So, perhaps we’re here to witness the importance of hunger in the world of sports, how the higher on the hog an athlete lives, the easier it is for them to lose their killer instinct. That is, until we discover that even deeper forces than the intersection of commerce and competition inexorably bind these three.
Then the film flashes back far enough to see Art and Patrick as childhood best friends winning the junior doubles title at the U.S. Open. We see the duo meet a young Tashi, a significant prospect whose brilliance in the game suggests a career much more impressive than her eventual fate as the coach and business partner of someone as unexceptional as Art.
As the trio flirt with one another, hearing Tashi talk about tennis and what tennis is sparks the film’s most effective through line: tennis is not about wins and losses but rather about the inherent intimacy between two opponents. The intensity the game requires and the amount of knowledge, both of self and of adversary, makes this sport indistinguishable from any other interpersonal relationship. The film repeatedly flips the dynamic amongst the trio of leads, with each protagonist taking turns as the odd one out.
On the axis of friendship and love, of platonic and sexual connection, there are things more rewarding and more devastating than merely winning and losing.
On the axis of friendship and love, of platonic and sexual connection, there are things more rewarding and more devastating than merely winning and losing.
Since its release, “Challengers” has been having a moment between its relative financial success and critical acclaim. But much of the film’s appeal seems wholly untethered to the sport it’s so principally concerned with unpacking. Instead, the film feels like the Bisexuality Industrial Complex funded it to cast the oft-maligned orientation in a more charming light. No more will bi folks be the butt of pithy indecision jokes. Following in the footsteps of excellent threesome fantasy bait pictures like François Truffaut’s 1962 “Jules et Jim,” Alfonso Cuarón’s 2001 “Y tu mamá también,” and Bernardo Bertolucci’s 2003 “The Dreamers,” Guadagnino’s gaze thwarts biphobia with several blows from the blunt edge of a tennis racket. Audience members walk out of the auditorium clumsily but excitedly, doing the cupid shuffle to the dead center on the Kinsey scale.
Audience members walk out of the auditorium clumsily but excitedly, doing the cupid shuffle to the dead center on the Kinsey scale.
But as much credit must be given to director Guadagnino’s eye, cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s verve, and the pulse-pounding thrill of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ clubby score, the picture lives or dies by the chemistry of its three leads. Both Faist and O’Connor jostle for dominance as the new White Boy of the Month, each showcasing a different side from their respective work in “West Side Story” and “The Crown.” They each flank Zendaya so effectively, with the actress pulling double duty as the film’s producer and a beloved star finally getting the lead role she truly deserves. “Euphoria” presents some of Zendaya’s finest work, but Rue is a limiting role. “Malcolm & Marie” was a step in the right direction, but the film’s script lacked the depth and complexity she’s truly capable of.
Here, three hot, young performers are given the right material and framing to punch their tickets to the big leagues. “Challengers” feels like a time machine back to an era where seeing a handful of talented and photogenic actors unravel interpersonal relationships was enough to get butts in seats at the multiplex.
A lot of digital ink has been spilled about a concerning lack of legitimate movie stars in the post-MCU era, but with “Challengers” released so closely after “Dune: Part Two,” it feels like the kids are alright, and the best from this new generation is still to come.
“Challengers” is currently playing exclusively in theaters but will be available on VOD next month.
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