To all the people who hated Anyone But You because it was full of hot people being hot… you’re gonna haaaate Challengers. This is easily the sexiest movie of the year. It has me setting my Tinder radius to 1km and parking outside tennis clubs. I am pinning WAG-core photos on Pinterest and suddenly, I care about serving in a different way.
Everything about this film is perfect: the direction, the score, the script and the phenomenal acting all stand on their own. You don’t have to be sporty to understand the characters – if you’ve ever played Wii Tennis and nearly thrown the controller at the TV out of pure unbridled rage, you are well-equipped. After all, aren’t we all just Mii’s stuck in a vast and empty Mii Plaza, trying to feel something?
Zendaya plays Tashi Duncan, a.k.a Lady Macbeth with two tennis twinks wrapped around her finger. With what can only be described as a f..k ass bob and an overdose of ambition, the film follows her journey after an injury takes her out of the game and she is forced to live vicariously through two other players, best friends Art and Patrick.
The story flicks between the present day (2019) and 13 years ago when the trio first met, revealing what led them to the fractured relationships they have when they once again find themselves staring at each other from across the net.
Challengers technically counts as a “period piece” (🤢) as most of it is spent basking in the golden nostalgia of 2007. Luca Guadagnino perfectly captured the late 2000s as being a mythical and unexplainable time, à la Saltburn; Zendaya is wearing a strapless blue flared tube dress in That Prom Dress Fabric™️, and is somehow still the most alluring person in the room.
They’re partying on a tennis court and drinking Coke exclusively out of glass bottles, and that says everything you need to know about the impeccable 'American summer’ vibes.
This movie does complex female characters right. Zendaya’s Tashi is fleshed out and a little bit f..ked up. She is cut-throat, blunt, driven and could easily have been the inspiration for Taylor Swift’s Mastermind. She doesn’t waste any time on anything she doesn’t want, and she doesn’t care for niceties or politeness.
In comparison, Art and Patrick are shown to be equally hungry for success, but disguise it under bucketloads of charisma and playfulness. Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor have the most insane chemistry ever; they have me fully convinced they have been best friends for their entire lives and that their personalities have become fully enmeshed. They are so chock full of charm it’s insane. Maybe all boys need to be able to show healthy masculinity is to be a liiittle bit in love with each other?
It once again renders the iconic Fleabag speech to ring true: “(men) create wars so they can feel things and touch each other, and when there aren’t any wars they can play rugby tennis.”
My favourite kind of film is when the characters reveal themselves to be perfect for each other because they’re all the same flavour of insane (just like the characters in Gone Girl). The cast themselves have said this is a movie you have to watch twice, as the person you think is the “bad guy” switches around after multiple viewings.
The result is a deliciously complex movie where the characters have deep ties to each other, and yet are simultaneously willing to throw each other under the bus for their five minutes of glory, blurring the lines between friendship, romance, competition and altruism.
[Beware: this paragraph contains spoilers. If you have not seen it yet please skip ahead to the next.] The film’s ending was the perfect release of tension. It finished with a bang and allowed us to finally understand that with Art and Patrick, it had never really been about impressing Tashi, but instead had always been about impressing each other. Patrick gave Art the gift of a real victory, instead of the hollow prize of a rigged match and going home to a wife who doesn’t love him. He gave Art the agency back in his own story, and in turn, the power to be a better player. And isn’t that what real love is all about – allowing each other to be the best versions of our terrible selves?
Overall, this movie is cheeky, high energy and invigorating. The score was absolutely electric – it felt 80s and aerobic and breathed so much life into the scenes. There are loads of phallic references and metaphors that allow Challengers to be sexy without being graphic or obscene, or taking away from The Tennis of it All. I would like to thank this movie for taking the masterpiece that is 3-Way by The Lonely Island ft. Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga and making it into a feature length film.
There is nothing not to love (that’s a tennis reference for any hot single tennis players who may be reading this) about a film that uses sport as a metaphor for bloodlust, sex and power. Go and see this movie and then immediately go and see it again – it is a masterpiece. No notes!
