Challengers

Director: Luca Guadignino
Starring: Zendaya, Josh O' Connor, Mike Faist, Darnell Appling, Shane Harris, Nada Despotovich, AJ Lister
Running Time: 131 min.
Rating: R

**The Following Review Contains Plot Spoilers For 'Challengers' **

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

Luca Guadignino's romantic sports drama Challengers almost has no business being as good as it is, exploring an extremely complicated relationship between three characters that spans over a decade. They fail, succeed, grow and emotionally tear each other to shreds while its non-linear structure serves as a window into their conflicting personalities. And if the use of multiple timelines often come across as narrative gimmicks in lesser instances, this really gets it right, enhancing the story through multiple eras. 

Highlighted by Guadignino's eye-opening directorial flourishes and gripping performances, it also benefits from playwright Justin Kuritzkes' incisive screenplay which along with a thumping, propulsive score from Trent Rezor and Atticus Ross give these proceedings the urgency of a high stakes thriller. With actual tennis scenes that easily eclipse 2005's embarrassing Wimbledon and the mediocre Battle of the Sexes, its action compares more favorably with King Richard. But the real difference comes off court, where this takes a less conventional approach than each, raising the sport's spotty record on screen. By bothering to get into the headspace of these athletes, we get a funny, wildly entertaining ride full of surprising twists that only enhance the love triangle at its center.  

It's 2019 and pro Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) comprises one half of a famous tennis power couple with wife and coach Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a former collegiate standout forced to retire after suffering a knee injury while playing for Stanford. Now with Art a U.S. Open title away from completing his career Grand Slam, he's in a slump, with multiple losses chipping away at his confidence. Thinking Art still has a last run left, Tashi enters her husband as a wild card in a lower level ATP Challenger event in New Rochelle, New York, hoping some wins can return him to top form.

On the other side of the draw is Art's former best friend and junior doubles partner Patrick Zweig (Josh O' Connor), who's barely scraping by on tournament earnings, his pro career marked by disappointment and an inability to move past Art marrying ex-girlfriend Tashi, ending their longtime friendship. With Art having never beaten Patrick, they'll now face off again in the finals with Tashi in the stands, and much more riding on the outcome than just pride and prize money.

When we're first introduced to Tashi and Art, it isn't immediately apparent that the scruffy nobody standing across the net will be his toughest opponent, if only due to their complicated personal history. What appears to be just another match in the opening minutes will start to take on an increased importance, as Guadignino utilizes the dual timelines to constantly inform the trajectories of these three intrinsically linked characters. 

As the disheveled Patrick, O' Connor definitely makes an entrance, begging to stay free at a local motel, sleeping in his car overnight in the club's lot and mooching food off a tournament official. There's a lot of humor in these scenes, mainly because it feels like an authentic, unflattering portrayal of what the bottom of the barrel looks like for a struggling pro, each loss further paving his path to obscurity. And of the three, O' Connor is the most believable player, investing the sometimes explosively tempered Patrick with realistically weird quirks, like his character's unorthodox serve.     

To understand how these former friends got here the film flashes back to 2006 when the newly crowned U.S. Open junior doubles champions become infatuated with up-and-coming prodigy Tashi, who definitely knows it. We're not sure exactly what she's planning when agreeing to stop by their room after a sponsorship event, but a sultry, magnetic Zendaya turns on the sarcastic charm and takes over in these flashback scenes. Tashi slyly pits the two against each other, wrapping them around her finger as things get steamy. But it's more noteworthy for the power dynamic that emerges when she proposes Art and Patrick have a match to earn her number. 

Faist and O' Connor do an exceptional job subtly conveying their characters' distinctive personalities, with the quieter, less experienced Art seeming miles removed from a far less motivated Patrick, the rebellious bad boy used to getting what he wants. They don't necessarily change or worsen when Tashi enters the picture, nor do our opinions budge that they're fairly good guys, but she knows all the buttons, to push, bringing their weakest qualities and biggest insecurities to the surface. 

When Tashi's playing future is wiped out, the first obvious signs of jealousy emerge between friends, forcing us to contemplate the possibility she desperately needs to be with a winner to feel complete, whomever that is at the moment. Patrick's unwillingness to become a "Duncanator" fan club member and his casual dismissal of their relationship turns her off, but him failing as a pro is the bridge too far. 

While Art worships the ground Tashi walks on and takes his feelings for her more seriously, that may  not be a plus. Hardly the white knight, Art's more than willing to stir the pot, planting seeds of doubt in Tashi's mind about his friend's intentions. But we know better, as she and Patrick couldn't be more similar, constantly putting up barriers to hide just how much they really do care, investing nearly all their emotional energy into pretending not to give a damn. 

Despite the extensive training she received by tennis great Brad Gilbert, Zendaya still has to overcome audiences preconceptions enough that they buy her as a top player and coach on screen. It's something fellow Spider-Man alumnae Kisten Dunst and Emma Stone know all about, having both tackled a similar task in their tennis-centric films. But with better editing, direction and material that emphasizes Zendaya's strengths as a performer, most of her rougher patches are smoothed over. 

Ironically enough, Zendaya's best tennis scene is her last, while when Tashi's practicing with Art following her injury, she demands he not hold back, only to painfully realize it's over. She's done. And it's here where the actress seems to fire on all cylinders with the groundstrokes, racquet throw and subsequent tantrum. Yet none of this matters nearly as much as how well she rides the ups and downs of her character's shifting loyalties over the course of thirteen years. 

The brief shot of Tashi sitting under a tree contemplating the enormity of what's happened feels like the film's defining shot, not to mention an inflection point for all three. With Patrick out of the picture, Tashi pours everything she has into Art's career, living vicariously through his accomplishments. More wrenches are thrown into the equation before returning to the pivotal 2019 final. For Art, a loss means not just the end of a career, but possibly his marriage. And for Patrick, this may as well be his last chance at anything.

Filled with slo-mo, crazy POV camera shots from the perspective of the competitors, ball, and even underneath the court, the match hinges on a huge call-back, with Guadignino completely pulling the rug out with a Whiplash-like resolution. He directs the hell out of it, even if many will be thrown by his loose interpretation of the sport's rules, and maybe even the laws of physics itself. But that's the strictly literal reading of a scenario where all three characters are reunited by the addictive thrill of competition that first brought them together. 

The film's hook is how its backstory fills in the blanks, leading us back to where we began, only with more on the line than initially expected. Smart and stylishly made, some might consider Challengers' unpredictable outcome controversial, but it sure has a lot to say about the games people play with each other, both on and off the court.