Rising to the Challenge

I don't usually go in for "sports movies." But then, the best ones usually aren't really about sports. And an awful lot of voices had been saying the recent release Challengers was "one of the best ones."

Challengers stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a hyper-ambitious tennis phenom who becomes the romantic pivot point between friends and doubles partners Patrick and Art. Well... actually, it's the story of Patrick and Art meeting across the net, years later, to play out their bitter rivalry on the tennis court. Except... actually it's the gradual revealing of a decade of history explaining how two best friends fractured. But also....

Suffice it to say, Challengers is a surprisingly complicated movie. But indeed, the tennis is the medium and not the message. And an incredibly clever script by Justin Kuritzkes makes the complicated flashback structure seem not only clear, but necessary to presenting these characters in the most compelling way possible. Plus, it's one of those scripts where every single moment planted has some important payoff later. And one of those scripts that's subtle enough to not read as pure setup in the early scenes.

Intriguingly, as much as this is a sports movie that isn't really about sports, it's equally a sexy movie with surprisingly little sex. Director Luca Guadagnino freights the movie up with all the innuendo and sexual tension that you could ever ask for, but things never truly get as physical as they do on the tennis court. Indeed, Guadagnino leans into the flashback structure of the movie by making each return to the tennis match of the present day increasingly frenetic. By the end of the movie, the camera work is frankly gonzo and borderline nauseating, but the movie has almost earned it.

Essentially, this is a movie about the subtext. And so it won't work without strong acting. Thankfully, all three of the stars are excellent. Zendaya threads an impossibly small needle here. She commands all of her scenes without ultimately detracting from the core of the story, which in my eyes is the relationship between the two friends. Her character is so fierce, and often manipulative, that in any other movie she would just be the outright villain of the tale. Yet she's also the one character who's most self-possessed, and the most capable -- and it basically feels like Zendaya is the perfect person to embody all that.

Josh O'Connor is threading a needle of his own as Patrick. His character is spoiled, lazy, impulsive... could be thoroughly unlikable on paper. But all of those things become secondary in O'Connor's breezily charismatic portrayal. Mike Faist as Art possibly has the hardest role of all. His character is crafted to be a meek second in every pairing he's put in; he should be an uninteresting doormat, impossible to root for. But he too gives a performance that feels like more than what's on the page.

There's also a pulsing, "dance club vibes" score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. It absolutely elevates the proceedings. (And I want to add it to my "ski mix" before next winter rolls around.)

Strangely, I find myself actually wanting to watch the movie again at some point soon. Because when I finished it, my thoughts were: "well, that was pretty good, though not as great as some people are saying." I'd call it a B+. And yet, going back to order my thoughts about it here, I find so much to like about it and very little to criticize. (Maybe it's a touch too long? As good as the Reznor/Ross score is, the choice to include a couple of strange church choir moments doesn't work for me at all.) Could I really wind up thinking that a sports/love triangle movie is among the best movies of the year?

I guess we'll find out later.