Challengers

This was my first Luca Guadagnino film, so I'm not sure if any of these criticisms can be explained by "it's just his style" but who knows. The trailer makes the movie look fun, and while there are humorous moments, these are few and far between.

We have two young tennis players - one successful and the other is not for various reasons - both in love with the same woman who seems to jump between them in what makes for a complicated love triangle. Add in electronic music played loudly over scenes where not much is happening, gratuitous nudity (so many penises), and neverending slo-motion in an overlong running time and you have Challengers.

I liked Zendaya when she was playing the role of mature mother and retired tennis professional, but she all too easily slips into an angsty teen who feels too young to play the character.

My favourite moments were the two male leads just hanging out (they had more chemistry than Zendaya with either one), but I wasn't exactly sure what the seemingly homoerotic moments added to the story.

Despite the above points, this movie held my interest and had me wondering exactly where it was going. When it landed, however, I felt cheated of 2 hours by watching a movie that thought it was smarter than it really was. Severely lacking payoff.

The only reason I went to see this movie was to see if Zendaya could hang with the big dogs. To see if she can carry a film all by herself. She has the talent, she has the looks. She has it all. I think this movie is a good start to launch her career as a bonfide movie star. That being said, the movie itself was okay. Just okay. Not great, not bad but okay. I thought Zendaya was good. Her performance was something I expected, which I guess is a good thing. Didn't blow me out of the water but overall good. The actor who played Patrick, in my opinion did a great job. However everything else about this movie just fell short for me. Too much style and not enough substance.

I went to see this yesterday although it was not my choice.

I tried to disregard that tennis mostly bores me.

Usually perceptive, but I did not get the point of the film.

A love triangle spanning 13 years with Zendaya as the master manipulator. What was she doing? Making the chaps better tennis players, making them grow up, making them aware that their long time friendship was more than just that. I do not know and then you ask yourself, why?

On the plus side, Josh O'Connor was mesmerising, turning in a good performance. The music was good, if on occasion a tad overdramatic for the scene being played out. Some titters.

On the minus side, the tennis montages grew tedious, the time jumps a little too often, particularly towards the end of the film.

There was one scene in a locker room, where I could not understand a word that was being said, I thought it was not in English, but I could not understand the gist or the purpose. Very frustrating.

The film was too long (I saw people leave) and, dare I say it, a little pointless.

I had very high expectations for this movie to come out and planned weeks in advance to see it. Perhaps that was unfair to factor in for my rating, but overall it missed the mark.

I had trouble following the timelines of certain scenes and felt confused throughout. Also, the movie basically has only three characters that have any role of significance which I felt was odd. Perhaps the umpire would be considered the fourth character that you see and he has a very small part.

I thought Zendaya was brilliant, but I didn't particularly like her character or the two competitors. There was nobody that you wanted to root for. For a tennis movie, rather go for Wimbledon than this one unfortunately.

First of all, this movie has an 80s-style vibe that we have seen many times before that could have well been told in a conventional 90-100 minute movie. This movie truly was not "important" enough to tell it over 131 minutes. Add to that there were pointless extended shots that you were begging to end. At about 100 minutes in, audience members were looking at their cellphones either to check the time or they were getting restless.

Second, there were excessive timeline jumps. It is often a useful story-telling device, but here it was excessive and distracting - so much so that when they did another timeline jump there was a consensus "groan." Making matters worse, is that there were time jumps as long as 13 years. However, Zendaya --- bless her heart --- as much as they tried to "age" her and "de-age" her through hair and make-up, she never looked, to me, older than about 17 years old regardless of the time era.

Third, while I credit Zendaya for tackling such a meaty role, and as much as I otherwise adore her, she just simply seemed to young to be so "weathered" and "jaded" and "cynical" and "ruthless" and "calculating" as she was. Further, I really don't remember her smiling once throughout the movie. And as I have read in other reviews, she seemed to have a resting "scowl" throughout the movie - ironically very much similar to the scowl she had throughout both Dune 1 and 2.

And lastly, by the end of the movie, none of the three characters were likeable, and, perhaps, oddly, sadly, Zendaya was, to me, the least likeable. And from a film character study point of view, the viewer is never given a reason or backstory for this.

With all these distractions in mind, I was so eager for the movie to end that I lost all investment whatsoever in who won or lost in the story's big moment.