I have a spot in my heart for intense sports movies. I also enjoy films that effectively incorporate flashbacks to flesh out the story and its characters. Luca Guadagnino’s (Bones and All, Call Me by Your Name) Challengers incorporated both themes into his sexual, taught, tension-filled drama, using professional tennis as its backdrop.

Zendaya (Dune, The Greatest Showman) continues to churn out hits. If she wasn’t already the most sought-after actress under the age of 30, she now will be. Challengers has as many things going for it as it has going against it. At its core is Zendaya’s powerful presence that keeps a film that favors style over substance from falling apart at its seams. Co-starring Mike Faist (Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game, West Side Story) and Josh O’Connor (Hope Gap, God’s Own Country), Zendaya brings the most out of two capable actors who have their first chances in prominent roles of a highly marketed movie. Challengers mostly works, especially if you can overlook the implausibility points or the convenience of some of more than a few plot devices. While critics (88%) and audiences (76%) think favorably of the movie, some film purists will find ways to tear it apart. Those criticisms would be justified.

The film plays out similarly to the 1989 Kevin Costner movie For Love of the Game. A best-of-three-set finals match between Art Donaldson (Faist) and Patrick Zweig (O’Connor) is where we spend most of our time with our characters in present-day 2019. We do receive a small lead-up on what gets us here. Art is married to Tashi (Zendaya). The two have a young child who travels with them from city to city, state to state, country to country. Art plays professionally, achieving great success in tournaments worldwide, including in three of the big four (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open). However, he has been on a significant losing streak (partially due to him playing with an injury), including some lopsided losses to players he is much better than.

Tashi, who also serves as Art’s coach and manager, believes he needs to get right mentally to believe, once again, that he can win matches. As the two talk, Tashi decides that Art should participate in a $7000 Challengers tournament, where the competition will be much less fierce, allowing him to regain his confidence. As she leaves the room, Art says, “I love you,” to which Tashi hesitates before replying, “I know.” Her curt response suggests some discord in their relationship, at least to Tashi.

We then transition to Patrick (O’Connor), who is entering the tournament hoping to earn a qualifying spot in the US Open. Like Art, he’s on the pro circuit. Unlike Art, he has yet to achieve success. We have yet to learn his backstory. We know he needs money and has a way of smooth-talking his way into getting what he wants. Art is unaware that Patrick is registered for the tournament when he enters.

The film then zigzags between the present day (the week of the tournament, culminating in the match between Art and Patrick, who are on opposite sides of the draw) and flashbacks over the last dozen years. We first are taken back to 2006, when best friends Art and Patrick had just won the junior doubles title at the US Open. There, they meet Tashi, who has made a name for herself on the amateur circuit, with whispers of being the next big thing in women’s tennis.

The three young tennis players share drinks in Art and Patrick’s hotel room the night before the two men meet for the junior singles title. Both men are infatuated with the beautiful Tashi, who does nothing to quell their desires. She does quite the opposite, enticing each boy into a kiss that then transitions into a three-way kiss before she dips away, leaving the men french-kissing each other. At that moment, Tashi discovers her allure’s true power. As she leaves, she tells the men whoever wins their match will get her phone number.

Fast-forward to 2007. Patrick has gone pro, while Tashi and Art play for Stanford University. Patrick and Tashi have formed a relationship. Patrick had defeated Art in the junior championship and earned Tashi’s phone number. Patrick’s personality is selfish and impulsive, whereas Art is calm, disciplined, and altruistic.

An on-court injury ended Tashi’s career before she turned pro. As Art’s career began to ascend, Tashi, in an attempt to stay connected to the sport at a high level, became his coach, manager, girlfriend, and (eventually) wife. Patrick disappeared from their lives during this time while his career derailed.

If you’ve made it this far in the review, Challengers may sound rather dull. At each moment, you start to believe that the movie will become predictable or formulaic; a change in the narrative causes us to reevaluate who the protagonist is. The back-and-forth, in-and-out relationships between all three characters cause us to shift, more than once, on who we are cheering for in the culminating match.

A slight criticism of Challengers is that it cut away a little too much. That’s not to say that each of the flashbacks wasn’t important, but there may have been a few too many. Unlike For Love of the Game, I wasn’t invested in the match until the story unfolded in a way that gave me a rooting interest in one of these two rivals. In For Love of the Game, I cared as much about the present-day game as I did about the backstory of Costner’s character. Another more recent comparison is the 2022 movie The Last Duel, in which the culminating fight was as enthralling as the story that led us to that point. Guadagnino, for the film’s first two acts, distanced us from this too often for us to care about the outcome (unintentionally) or who we were supposed to be rooting for (intentionally).

Ultimately, Challengers is an adept and lavish character study that unfolds methodically in ways full of sexuality and obsession (hallmarks of Guadagnino films). In the film’s first act, at least one of the three characters who seems like one we could care for proves that they are willing to do whatever is necessary to get what they want. If you stick with it and immerse yourself in the story, you’ll leave thinking it was two hours well spent, even if the result is not what you may be looking for.

Plot 8/10
Character Development 8.5/10
Character Chemistry 8.75/10
Acting 8.50/10
Screenplay 7.75/10
Directing 8.5/10
Cinematography 9/10
Sound 9.5/10
Hook and Reel 8.75/10
Universal Relevance 8.25/10
85.5%

B

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