Sports movies used to feel like a dime a dozen, but they don’t seem quite so prevalent in the last few years. Which is actually nice because they almost all end up being extremely superficial and trying to chase the high we got from Rudy decades ago. Challengers decided not to do this by weaving a much more complex tale that is as much about tennis as it is the characters.
The film opens with Tashi (Zendaya) helping her husband Art (Mike Faist) return to pro tennis after an injury by entering him into what is essentially the lowest tier in the sport. Art has completely lost his edge, and she is hoping that an easy win here will restore his confidence and get him back where he needs to be. They are surprised to see that his final opponent is none other than his former best friend and her love interest Patrick (Josh O’Connor) who had gone their separate ways years past. What plays out from here is the final match as well as the story of how they met, fell in love, and fell apart.
This seems cliché doesn’t it as how many times has a movie had almost this exact same plot? Countless ones. However, Challengers smartly accomplishes this by hopping through the past non-linearly in order for us to learn what happened and how. Most of the marketing has focused on the love triangle between Patrick, Art, and Tashi, but not as much has focused on their friendship and how infatuation and rivalry tore them apart. And it in no way shows us the best part of the film which is Tashi herself.
Zendaya is absolutely magnificent every moment she is on screen and easily pulls the focus onto herself and her performance showing she is just as much a leading actor as anyone else. While the boys are the ones who initially fall for her, she is really the one pulling the strings to get what she wants. She goes from cool and collected to a feisty and powerful force of nature, and she continually shows off what she can do. O’Connor and Faist are close behind her, however, and while I would say that Faist starts out a more one-note character, he is as deeply fleshed out and interesting by the time it ends.
Speaking of ends, this is where my only quibble with the film lies. I’m not going to explain much because you should see it yourself without my spoiling it, but it does end exactly on that sports movie cliché we were expecting. Director Luca Guadagnino trusts the audience to understand everything the whole time but then spoon feeds us the ending. Had he stopped it 30 seconds before he did, it would be a nearly perfect film. That choice, however, knocks it down a peg.
My friends and I have affectionately referred to this as the “horny tennis movie,” and we’re not far off. However, beyond the throuple marketing lies a smart and taught film that not only showcases some of the best and most accurate tennis action seen on screen but also a fantastic use of time-jump storytelling and striking performances from all involved. My only complaint is quite literally the last moment of the movie, but it’s one that I’m able to partially overlook based on all that came before it. Sports fan or not, Challengers is something everyone can enjoy, even if the closest you’ve ever gotten to watching tennis was playing Pong as a kid.