There are many films about love triangles, ones that actually have something to say about male ego, masculinity, masochism, and toxic relationships. Unfortunately, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers is not one of them.
Buy Challengers Blu-rayTold in gratuitously non-linear fashion and featuring an energetic (but also very distracting) score by the generally winning duo of Trent Renzor and Atticus Ross, Guadagnino’s tennis saga stars Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist as Patrick Zweig and Art Donaldson, best friends and tennis players who encounter Tashi Duncan (Zendaya, who is very magnetic in this), a bona fide tennis pro in her own right. They both fall hard for her, which leads a menage-a-trois and power play (with Tashi obviously pulling the strings) where hearts are constantly shattered, bones get broken (including a particularly nasty career-ending one for Tashi), and tensions are pushed to the Nth degree.
I really wanted to like this movie, but I just could not relate to the plot, which is essentially beautiful people manipulating each other. All three characters (portrayed by really good and committed young actors) are irredeemable and unlikable. They seemed to get off on hurting each other. It didn’t completely appeal to me, even though it does contains plentiful amounts of sex appeal (and skin).
However, it does realistically showcase how grueling tennis can really be, so that’s at least something. This film isn’t bad, but it’s not as human (nor edgy) as it could have been. It does warrant at least one watch, but not multiple times. I just don’t feel that the buzz it got was worth it in the end.
There are no special features, which also doesn’t help the film either.
