Review: Challengers

Image courtesy of MGM.

Luca Guadagnino's "Challengers" is concerned with three people whose competitive drive fuels their near-ruthless desire for winning on both the tennis courts - where they are pros - and in the bedroom, where their abilities vary. The film is an intense, fast-paced sports drama and romantic triangle picture that moves propulsively forward to the beat of Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch's relentless electronic score.

"Challengers" jumps around in different timelines, but its framing device is a tennis match in 2019 at what should be a low-stakes tournament in Long Island where tennis star (Mike Faist) is facing off against Patrick (Josh O'Connor), his former best friend who was once the better player but whose career never took off and has now fallen into a somewhat disreputable state. In the present, Patrick is trying to woo an older female hotel manager into letting him crash there for free during the tournament. Art is there with Tashi (Zendaya), his coach and wife.

In the past, we meet Art and Patrick when they played as "Fire and Ice," a tennis duo on the rise. They meet Tashi, another rising star with a fierce competitive streak, at a party to celebrate her latest win. All three are prone to some colorful behavior on the court. 

After convincing Tashi to drop by their hotel room, one of the many competitions between the two men ensues. Whoever wins the match they have the following day against each other will win a date with Tashi, who senses an attraction between the two men during a group make-out session from which she extricates herself, seemingly without drawing the attention of the other two.

Patrick wins the match and, as a result, Tashi. But Art, driven by Patrick's conquest, fails to give up so easily and the competition continues on and off the court. Several years later, Art bumps in Tashi, the two get together, and a marriage and children come later.

But in the present day, Art has lost his drive. He has won all of the major tennis competitions except the U.S. Open and, due to his age, his wife believes that this might be his last shot. Meanwhile, her career was ended early after breaking her leg on the tennis court, leaving her to act as Art's coach (he's her only client). 

When they find out that Patrick is playing in the Long Island tournament, which Tashi hopes will enable Art to get his confidence back after a string of losses, the old games and competition start back up. Will playing against Patrick again renew Art's competitive streak?

Guadagnino is known as a director of what might be called hot and heavy dramas - the acclaimed LGBTQ romance "Call Me By Your Name," for example - although he's also a director of films in which erotic romance is struck up in the strangest of places - among cannibals in "Bones and All" and, to a less grizzly extent, among tennis players in his latest picture.

"Challengers" is the best piece of pure entertainment I've seen so far in 2024. It's a skillfully made and acted sports drama with incredible photography during the high-intensity tennis matches, and its use of editing and Reznor's score greatly enhance that atmosphere.

Both Faist and O'Connor are great as the two men competing for Tashi's attentions - while also, perhaps, harboring something for each other - but it's Zendaya who drives the picture. I'm not sure that someone as famous as the actress could have what might be called a breakout performance, but her work here is certainly the best showcase of her talents to date. While she was good enough in the "Dune" and "Spider-man" movies, her portrayal of Tashi is on a whole other level.

The final tennis match is as intense as something one might expect to see at the end of a big budget action movie, but the outcome of the match isn't exactly clear. But here's something to ponder: Which of the three characters do you believe win at the end of the film? This is a movie about competitive people, and typically in competition there's only room for one winner - which is what makes the delirious finale of this film so interesting. "Challengers" is very well made and a lot of fun.