Challengers (2024)
April 26, 2024 10:36 PM - Subscribe
Tashi (Zendaya), a former tennis prodigy turned coach, is married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist). Her strategy for her husband's redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against his former best friend and Tashi's former boyfriend (Josh O'Connor)...
The trailer promises a deliciously amoral story of sports and erotic gamesmanship. I don't think the film quite got there, though I suspect that a viewer's assessment of its success will partially depend on their feeling about the characters' chemistry, which is subjective.
(It may not be fair to criticize this kind of film's sexual politics, since by its nature it trafficks in some of the less upright and civilized impulses, but there was something troublingly retrograde there.)
The trailer promises a deliciously amoral story of sports and erotic gamesmanship. I don't think the film quite got there, though I suspect that a viewer's assessment of its success will partially depend on their feeling about the characters' chemistry, which is subjective.
(It may not be fair to criticize this kind of film's sexual politics, since by its nature it trafficks in some of the less upright and civilized impulses, but there was something troublingly retrograde there.)
It's really more of an "arbitrary individual sports, with lots of bodies" movie. It almost feels like Zendaya's promotional outfits have had more of a marked tennis aesthetic than her wardrobe here did.
posted by praemunire at 10:32 AM on April 27, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by praemunire at 10:32 AM on April 27, 2024 [1 favorite]
Cute note: the umpire, Darnell Appling, is Zendaya's longtime assistant who often body-doubles (!!!) for her. From his build and voice, I thought he might be a trans man (would've been nice rep), but apparently he just is that slight.
posted by praemunire at 10:38 AM on April 27, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 10:38 AM on April 27, 2024 [2 favorites]
From the summary, this sounds like the plot of Chess, only it's not a musical, and the metaphor is Tennis.
posted by kandinski at 5:17 AM on April 28, 2024
posted by kandinski at 5:17 AM on April 28, 2024
This film was written by the genius behind Potion Seller.
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 7:00 AM on April 28, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 7:00 AM on April 28, 2024 [3 favorites]
Enjoyed this review by Justin Sayles “We Need to Talk About the ‘Challengers’ Threesome Scene. Just Not for the Reason You Think.” I hollered at “Saltburn-core” and “DON’T GOOGLE MMF AT WORK.”
I like to (wrongly, with very little basis in reality) think of this film as a sex-positive reimagining of WIMBLEDON (2004). Holy hell that was 20 years ago already. Shiiiiit. In retrospect, MMF with Jamie Lannister would’ve been fantastic. Just saying! [Flagged as I’m old and enjoyed this unapologetically HOT film quite a lot.]
posted by edithkeeler at 9:54 AM on April 28, 2024 [1 favorite]
I like to (wrongly, with very little basis in reality) think of this film as a sex-positive reimagining of WIMBLEDON (2004). Holy hell that was 20 years ago already. Shiiiiit. In retrospect, MMF with Jamie Lannister would’ve been fantastic. Just saying! [Flagged as I’m old and enjoyed this unapologetically HOT film quite a lot.]
posted by edithkeeler at 9:54 AM on April 28, 2024 [1 favorite]
That's a fun little essay, edithkeeler, thanks. "Y tu Tennis También", ha.
posted by mediareport at 8:05 AM on April 29, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by mediareport at 8:05 AM on April 29, 2024 [3 favorites]
(The full review at The Ringer that the fun essay links is really good, too.
posted by mediareport at 8:12 AM on April 29, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by mediareport at 8:12 AM on April 29, 2024 [1 favorite]
Well that was a rollicking good time while managing to still have interesting character studies. I get why people are calling it HOT, and it is, but most of the “grown up” scenes struck me as sad. Fantastic ending.
posted by dry white toast at 7:13 PM on April 30, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by dry white toast at 7:13 PM on April 30, 2024 [2 favorites]
Excellent movie that didn't take itself too seriously, and yet had a lot of layers. Haven't had this much fun watching a film in awhile.
posted by extramundane at 11:24 PM on May 1, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by extramundane at 11:24 PM on May 1, 2024 [2 favorites]
I've been wanting to see this for a while and finally caught it on a plane. For some reason I was really hyped to see this, and was maybe a bit disappointed that it was "just" really good, but not great. I would definitely recommend it though.
Some thoughts:
- For all the talk of how "hot" the movie is, I actually found it pretty tame? I don't quite know what got people so riled up. Three young people making out? I started watching The Double Life of Veronique afterwards and eventually turned it off because my kid was sitting next to me.
- All the acting was great, and the characters were multidimensional and flawed in real and understandable ways. In some press I read about this, people seemed to single out Zendaya's character as being particularly devious or something. Maybe they were right... or maybe it's just misogyny? Can't help but feel that people just hold women to higher standards in relationships. I'm going to go with misogyny.
- The ending was pretty cool, with a nice "twist". My only issue was Zendaya screaming "Come on!" When she first said it in the movie it was awesome and really sold her character, but at the end it felt (to me) like a forced call back. Still I appreciated the overall pivot to a happy (er) ending.
- Tennis is the only sport I really enjoy, and it was nice seeing how it was expressed in various ways through the movie, but "for itself" and also in reflecting the characters. That was a lot of racquet smashing though. Can't they just toss their racquets some times?
Anyway lots of fun. Not mind blowing, but good in the way that made me wish there were way more movies like this.
posted by Alex404 at 12:31 AM on August 28, 2024
Some thoughts:
- For all the talk of how "hot" the movie is, I actually found it pretty tame? I don't quite know what got people so riled up. Three young people making out? I started watching The Double Life of Veronique afterwards and eventually turned it off because my kid was sitting next to me.
- All the acting was great, and the characters were multidimensional and flawed in real and understandable ways. In some press I read about this, people seemed to single out Zendaya's character as being particularly devious or something. Maybe they were right... or maybe it's just misogyny? Can't help but feel that people just hold women to higher standards in relationships. I'm going to go with misogyny.
- The ending was pretty cool, with a nice "twist". My only issue was Zendaya screaming "Come on!" When she first said it in the movie it was awesome and really sold her character, but at the end it felt (to me) like a forced call back. Still I appreciated the overall pivot to a happy (er) ending.
- Tennis is the only sport I really enjoy, and it was nice seeing how it was expressed in various ways through the movie, but "for itself" and also in reflecting the characters. That was a lot of racquet smashing though. Can't they just toss their racquets some times?
Anyway lots of fun. Not mind blowing, but good in the way that made me wish there were way more movies like this.
posted by Alex404 at 12:31 AM on August 28, 2024
> For all the talk of how "hot" the movie is, I actually found it pretty tame? I don't quite know what got people so riled up. Three young people making out?
I don't think it's the actual sex scenes that people are responding to there, but instead the consistent level of sexual tension in basically every other scene of the movie. My wife put it that it's a movie about longing, and that longing combines with the intense physicality of the tennis to become erotic.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 4:17 PM on August 28, 2024 [3 favorites]
I don't think it's the actual sex scenes that people are responding to there, but instead the consistent level of sexual tension in basically every other scene of the movie. My wife put it that it's a movie about longing, and that longing combines with the intense physicality of the tennis to become erotic.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 4:17 PM on August 28, 2024 [3 favorites]
Yah that's fair. I suppose that because the performances were so good and real, the whole thing just felt natural to me, rather than some how "supercharged". The feelings of longing, and the process of navigating through desire and love, were just kind of the resting state of my youth. I would imagine this was the case for many (most? all?) people.
Maybe what people are also responding to is how bloodless so many contemporary depictions of romance and love are. In movies, two people being young and hot is usually enough to pair them off. Romance is presented as the immediate result of ineffable chemistry, rather than something that evolves over time (both over short and long time scales).
To be honest this movie drove me to revisit a couple classic Jane Austen adaptations, so I might be over interpreting Challengers through their light. But still, please: more emotional realism in films.
posted by Alex404 at 5:45 AM on August 29, 2024
Maybe what people are also responding to is how bloodless so many contemporary depictions of romance and love are. In movies, two people being young and hot is usually enough to pair them off. Romance is presented as the immediate result of ineffable chemistry, rather than something that evolves over time (both over short and long time scales).
To be honest this movie drove me to revisit a couple classic Jane Austen adaptations, so I might be over interpreting Challengers through their light. But still, please: more emotional realism in films.
posted by Alex404 at 5:45 AM on August 29, 2024
My partner called this the millennial version of For Love of the Game and I can see it.
posted by Carillon at 11:02 PM on December 25
posted by Carillon at 11:02 PM on December 25
I really enjoyed this. I'm not sure when the last time I felt this amped up after watching a movie was. The score is powerful and often employed kind of hilariously. Visually it's fresh, colorful, exciting.
Some of the scenes, like when Art is hanging out by his jeep and saying how he wants to kiss Tashi -- it almost feels like an older movie, like an old Tom Cruise movie, like the romance scenes in Top Gun. (Maybe it's more Top Gun for Millennials, despite the For Love of the Game setup. Hot young guys, competition, etc. (Also I've said for years that FLotG has a great setup and they should make more sports movies like that except actually good yaknow; and: vindicated!)) Or when Tashi and Patrick fall for each other a little bit again in the windstorm. I can't quite describe how well the film turns on a dime and does these things and evokes like 80s romance. Maybe it's the materialism, maybe it's just remembering the power of handsome guys with good smiles. (O'Conner was reminding me a lot of Richard Gere; let's allow that he was a handsome guy with a good smile.)
(Design for Lobbing?)
It was like 20 minutes too long but the ending was great. They get a happy ending that none of them deserve. Hooray! Or, if not happy, then at least another big delicious hit of the thing that is destroying them.
posted by fleacircus at 6:27 PM on December 31
Some of the scenes, like when Art is hanging out by his jeep and saying how he wants to kiss Tashi -- it almost feels like an older movie, like an old Tom Cruise movie, like the romance scenes in Top Gun. (Maybe it's more Top Gun for Millennials, despite the For Love of the Game setup. Hot young guys, competition, etc. (Also I've said for years that FLotG has a great setup and they should make more sports movies like that except actually good yaknow; and: vindicated!)) Or when Tashi and Patrick fall for each other a little bit again in the windstorm. I can't quite describe how well the film turns on a dime and does these things and evokes like 80s romance. Maybe it's the materialism, maybe it's just remembering the power of handsome guys with good smiles. (O'Conner was reminding me a lot of Richard Gere; let's allow that he was a handsome guy with a good smile.)
(Design for Lobbing?)
It was like 20 minutes too long but the ending was great. They get a happy ending that none of them deserve. Hooray! Or, if not happy, then at least another big delicious hit of the thing that is destroying them.
posted by fleacircus at 6:27 PM on December 31
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posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:48 AM on April 27, 2024