“This is a game about winning the points that matter. You beating me is a nice story for you to tell people when you’re giving them tennis lessons, but I guarantee you the thing they’ll all be the most excited about is that you met me at all. They’ll ask you what I’m like. They’ll ask you if I’m nice. They’ll ask you if we were friends. And then they’ll ask you how I did it. They’ll ask you and you won’t have no $#*%ing clue what to tell them. And even if you did want to know, I couldn’t possibly explain it to you in a language you’ll understand, because the thing you learn when you’ve been operating at my level for as long as I have is that it’s so $#*%ing lonely to win this much. Nobody gets it. But everyone on Earth gets what it’s like to be you.”
So the truth about this film when I learned about it was I knew it was destined to be a movie that my wife would drag me to the theater to see. I’ve never been one for tennis, and while I have a rudimentary understanding of the game’s rules and how it is played, it falls into the same category as golf; it’s just not that exciting a sport for me. That said, I’m pretty sure that I ended up more hooked by this movie than my wife. Zendaya as a maneater? I mean, who wouldn’t be seduced by the idea of her taking on a role like that? I’ve watched Zendaya since her time on the Disney Channel, and I never cease to be amazed by the transformation that she undertakes with every role. This is a woman who not only redefined the role of MJ in the Spider-Man films, but did that while also more than convincingly passing as a drug addict on Euphoria. Quite frankly, I highly doubt there is anything that she couldn’t convincingly do.
In this film, Zendaya plays Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist, West Side Story), Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when she enters him into a challenger tennis event to boost his confidence before the U.S. Open and learns he must face off against the washed-up Patrick (Josh O’Connor, The Crown) – his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend. As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself, what will it cost to win?
Without question, Zendaya is the film’s biggest draw, and I could speak about her character and her portrayal at length. However, for the moment I want to speak about her co-stars and dual love interests, Faist and O’Connor. Now neither actor is a slouch by any strength of the imagination; Faist is an alumnus of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, as well as having the same Disney alma mater as Zendaya, having appeared in their Broadway production of Newsies, before gaining a Tony Award nomination for his breakthrough role in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen. Meanwhile, O’Connor made a name for himself with supporting roles in television series such as Doctor Who and Peaky Blinders. He had his breakthrough playing the lead role of a closeted sheep farmer in Francis Lee’s romantic drama God’s Own Country, for which he won a British Independent Film Award. Both actors demonstrate their A-list caliber acting chops, both through their chemistry with Zendaya and their chemistry with one another. For the film to work, it was important that the actors have a dynamic outside of Zendaya. This was important for the sake of the characters’ rivalry outside of their interest in Tashi. Thankfully, this dynamic is delivered on early on in the depiction of the characters’ early friendship as well as during their final competition at the Challengers event. Both characters are fully formed and represent some of the best developed characters that I’ve seen this year. I dare say that I enjoyed their dynamic with one another more than their interactions with Zendaya.
The film unfolds in a non-linear format, cutting back and forth between the group’s early years as it lays out what essentially transpires and eventually fractures the group’s relationship. As you can guess, it has much to do with both characters’ attraction to Tashi. In all fairness, nothing really untoward occurred in the early days, which was a nice switch from the traditional methods for how situations like this occur. Granted, there were some past actions for which I held some hostility for Zendaya’s and O’Connor’s characters. Even so, given what transpired between the two, the actions were not without some merit. However, by the film’s third act, I became openly hostile toward the two and found myself firmly on Faist’s team. That was actually part of the fun with Challengers, identifying which character’s actions could you relate to the most.
Everything comes to a head during the film’s final sequence, as secrets are revealed and lives are irreparably affected, which made for a sequence charged with intensity despite knowing that there could only be one real outcome. Even with the outcome being a forgone conclusion, it didn’t undercut its impact or its delivery. However, the fate of all the characters involved is left ambiguous. And while that adds to the film’s overall mystique, I think I would have preferred a more concise conclusion for where the characters go from here. While I know it is a long shot, I am holding out for a sequel film that ties things up in a nice little bow, though I doubt such a thing is coming.
