CHALLENGERS: Movie Review

Love, or at least relationships, are like a high-stakes tennis match in director Luca Guadagnino’s highly anticipated 2024 film Challengers. For the Italian film director, it isn’t his first foray into films centered around relationships; his previous credits include indie favorites like Oscar-nominated Call Me By Your Name and the arguably underwhelming cannibal romance Bones and All. However, in his newest film about a trio of tennis players, the director develops a thesis centered around the idea that the psychology of sports and competition can intertwine with the psychology of relationships and love in fascinating ways. Written by Justin Kuritzkes, this charged and scintillating drama about power, sex, competition, insecurity, and jealousy dabbles in the grey areas of its characters and situations; in short, “winner” and “loser” are actually relative terms in this story centered around agency. Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor deliver winning and smart performances in this ambiguous but intriguing story that explores a complex dynamic amongst athletes, warring on and off the court. It’s an observant and stylish cinematic endeavor that intelligently leaves things open for interpretation, although the writing and execution sometimes grow bloated, and it’s clear that Challengers needs trimming with a 2h 11m runtime. Ultimately, Challengers is unique because it strays away from the typical black-and-white morality of so many other like-minded films, instead asking the audience to see what they will in the film’s games of tennis and of the mind.

While it’s got a glossy Hollywood approach, complete with a pulsing techno score and lush cinematography, Challengers is a psychologically charged melodrama with a narrative in the vain of European arthouse cinema. The non-linear script intersplices time periods to create a mosaic of the intriguing dynamic shared by the lead characters in the film, and the writing finds perceptive ways to examine its characters’ shifting motives and attitudes. At times, the film itself resembles a tennis match, as the audience turns into onlookers watching how these characters go back-and-forth in navigating their own insecurities and interpersonal dynamics, just as they handle the moving parts of a tennis match. Essentially, director Guadagnino commits to the metaphor, but it works well because the film manages to use the symbolism in a self-reflexive and propulsive way.

Nevertheless, Challengers does feel bloated and the stylistic overtone (which include loud musical choices & heavy uses of slo-mo) seem to curtail the film’s potential to be a more nuanced and observant take. As it traverses into its second half, the panache of Challengers sometimes becomes lost to a script that feels repetitive and even meandering in some moments. A tighter script would have benefited some of the great themes and character work in Challengers but even as it stands, the film’s ambiguities and complexities make it a far more layered and narratively confident film than it might first seem. The ensemble of performers definitely help in making it come alive, with Zendaya turning in what might be her career-best performance as the competitive Tashi Duncan, and Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist delivering cheeky, knowing performances as two tennis stars with a complex dynamic of rivalry, friendship, and perhaps attraction.

In its concluding moments, Challengers remains intelligently inconclusive, allowing audiences to keep reading into it far after the credits have rolled. While the films leaves a bit to be desired in the structure of its script, Challengers is still a sumptuous and engaging melodrama rife with psychological elements that leave a mark. The strong character work and the smart treatment of its themes make it a compelling film in the moment, though its craft sometimes grows bloated and showy.