Challengers

Luca Guadagnino serves dysfunction in his engrossing tennis drama

Zendaya scores on and off the court in Luca Guadagnino's sexy thriller Challengers.

In the world of elite tennis, you’re only as good as your last win. Phenom Tashi (Zendaya) has ruled over the junior tennis scene since she picked up a racket. She’s the kind of competitor that sponsors dream of — beautiful, fierce, and unbeatable. Poised to become the next Serena Williams, with all the branding deals to match, she is a god among her peers.

Ready to become Tashi’s acolytes are Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Faist), a pair of tennis school buddies who seem obsessed not so much with tennis, but with impressing each other. The boys decide Tashi is the perfect woman, and decide to hold a friendly competition to see who can win her.

When a career-ending injury takes Tashi off the court, she decides to keep their game going. The men want her to coach them, and Tashi wants a proxy she can puppet on the court. Soon this threesome is embroiled in a 13-year relationship grudge match.

Who will win? The audience.

Sexy, funny, and impeccably shot, Challengers is thrilling on or off the court. Director Luca Guadagnino carefully dissects the ins and outs of this love triangle set in a world where “Love” literally means zero points. These three people are deeply flawed, neurotically competitive, and utterly fascinating. It’s one of the few love triangle films where each side is given equal importance. Tashi needs both men to live out her dreams of creating a tennis dynasty. Both men in turn, flail between needing to impress Tashi and wanting to impress each other. Guadagnino also doesn’t allow for the inherent homoeroticism of the storytelling to be subtext, he takes a long look at their repressed attraction, and how it informs their choices with Tashi. The entire relationship feels like players volleying at the net — relationships move fast and loyalties fly between the players at dizzying speeds.

Part of that volley-like feeling is found in the storytelling. Challengers jumps back and forth through time, with flashbacks answering plot questions and asides offering character insights. This is a movie where you’ll have to keep your eye on the ball, it’s easy to get lost as the plot careens between present and past.

But even if you miss a key plot point, there is a joy to be found in just letting the visuals of Challengers wash over you. Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom crafts some truly breathtaking sequences, offering poetry and sumptuous lighting to a scene in a winding parking lot as well as some visceral tennis matches. Mukdeeprom plays with camera angles, textures, and lighting, to make this film seem like a lucid dream. The result is hypnotic.

And while Mukdeeprom and Guadagnino create an amazing artistic template, it’s pretty clearly Zendaya who wins this match. She comes roaring onto the screen in her first “Give Me An Oscar Already” role and absolutely devours everyone in her path. Her Tashi is a determined, steely woman who is committed to winning every point, even if she can’t play on a court any longer. Zendaya can convey so much with the arch of a brow or the gait of her walk, allowing us to see the simmering rage and cold calculations running behind every gesture Tashi makes.

As her two partners in this triad, Pete and Art are pretty clearly outmatched. Their actors, however, are game. O’Connor in particular oozes the sort of slimey charm of every shoulda-been-great athlete that’s gotten by on talent and a modicum of appeal. He has no shame because his ego won’t allow for it. As Art, Faist is more a ball of people-pleasing nerves. He doesn’t even seem to like tennis, he’s more attracted to the people who revere it. As the men circle Tashi, and each other, it becomes clear that this game can only really end in tears.  

Challengers does earn a few penalties: A couple of the humorous side characters fall flat, and if you’re not paying strict attention the time jumps can be hard to sort out. But overall, if you’re an attentive moviegoer with a love for good acting and complex scripting, this is a must-see.

Verdict: Funny and sexy, this is a sports film for people who know the real game is played off the court.

Challengers is rated R and available in theaters April 26.