Challengers (#546)


My daughter and I are tennis fans, and there aren't a lot of movies about tennis, which was why we went to see CHALLENGERS.  We should have stayed home and watched the matches from Madrid.  You may have to ask someone else what this movie was about.  I''m not sure I got it.  It featured three unsavory characters, all or whom were tennis players or former tennis players, and what we saw of tennis in action on screen were not very skillful players who seemed mostly concerned with the noise made when racket hit ball.  It was loud and louder.  Off the court, the two guys were once friends, and actually more than friends.  Kissing buddies actually.  The girl, played by someone named Zendaya, was a former player turned coach who marries one of them and has sex with both of them (not necessarily at the same time).  And the two guys play against one another in the present and in flashbacks and all that happens in the film is the present mingled with unwarranted flashbacks.  That's the best I can do.  Bad language and explicit sex dominated this one, and neither of us liked it.  Hopefully, it didn't damage the fondness we have for the game.  87% of critics and 75% of audiences gave Challengers a thumbs up.  I haven't the foggiest idea why. 

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