I wasn't looking forward to "Challengers." I've watched a few tennis matches over the years, but I've never been a fan of the sport, and thought that Luca Guadagnino had his work cut out for him trying to make the game compelling onscreen. I can't think of the last great tennis movie, and I suspect that there may not be one. However, I'm happy to report that I underestimated Guadagnino, because the movie is great. "Challengers" is not only the best tennis movie I've ever seen, it's in the running for the best sports film I've ever seen.
It helps that "Challengers" is simultaneously a movie about tennis and a movie about an intense love triangle. We first see Art (Mike Faist) and his wife Tashi (Zendaya) in 2019. He's a decorated professional tennis star, she's his coach, and together they're rich, successful, and seemingly a perfect couple. However, Art has hit a slump in his latest attempt at a Grand Slam. Tashi puts him in a smaller tournament to get some confidence back, and Art unexpectedly finds himself playing against his old doubles partner Patrick (Josh O'Connor). We learn that Art and Patrick first met Tashi when they were all up-and-coming teenage tennis players in 2006, and both young men were rivals for her affections.
The reunion stirs up a lot of old feelings and a lot of unresolved tensions. As the three characters reconnect and reevaluate what they want, flashbacks fill in what happened to them in the past. Tashi emerges as the lynchpin character, who manipulates the other two in order to get what she wants. She chose Art over Patrick in the past, but Patrick's the one who understands her better - especially her obsession with tennis and winning. She faces the same decision again in the present day, as everything comes down to Patrick and Art playing an epic tennis match in the film's final act. I'm thrilled that "Challengers" is an adult romance that actually feels like an adult romance in a way that no movie has in far too long. The relationship dynamics are complex, rich, and endlessly entertaining to watch. The maneuverings of the three players are messy and difficult, and all of them transgress at one point or another.
I can't express enough appreciation for Luca Guadagnino making sexy movies for audiences that seem to be so oddly resistant to them. He's made a ridiculously hot feature about a contentious menage-a-trois, and gets away with it because we don't actually see any sex. There's brief non-sexual nudity and a few scenes of foreplay, but all the real physicality is reserved for the tennis scenes (which deliver everything you'd want from sex scenes anyway). The score by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor is mostly techno and electronica dance beats, injecting energy and intrigue into the quieter moments where it looks like nothing is happening, but of course everything is happening.
The performances of the three leads are all very strong, but I think Josh O'Connor comes off the best. Patrick is in a much rougher place than the others when we first meet him, and O'Connor makes a meal out of being a walking disaster. Mike Faist as Art is less showy, but no less complicated, and has no trouble going toe to toe with O'Connor in every scene. I'm hopeful that the success of "Challengers" will raise the profiles of both actors. As for Zendaya, she's always been a little difficult for me to buy playing grown women, but she's completely convincing as the ex-prodigy who never lost her need to win at all costs. She was fine in "Dune 2" earlier this year, but in "Challengers" she's the main event.
And then there's the tennis, which does everything right technically, and looks great to the untrained eye, but the final match is on another level. Guadagnino holds back on cinematic tricks until this scene, where suddenly there's slow motion, overhead shots, shots designed to look like the POV of the ball, incredible sweaty close-ups, all lovingly edited. And it all worked exactly as intended and had me on the edge of my seat. I never thought that I'd say this, but I'm ready for more tennis films, especially if Luca Guadagnino is involved.
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