Loud, long, a little messy, and very sweaty, Challengers may not be as sexy as its explosive first trailer implied, but it’s still a hell of a movie. Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor make for quite the toxic tennis love triangle at the center of it all, each co-star crackling with chemistry and some deeply realized character work.
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CHALLENGERS ★★★ (3/4 stars)
Directed by: Luca Guadagnino
Written by: Justin Kuritzkes
Starring: Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, Mike Faist
Running time: 131 mins.
The film follows three people who have tied themselves to tennis, for better or worse. Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) was a junior champion poised to be the sport’s next big thing before a horrific injury forced her into coaching; she’s now married to Art Donaldson (Faist), a player who’s great but far from being one of the greats, despite Tashi’s coaching. They met over a decade prior, when Art was besties with the slightly less respectable Patrick Zweig (O’Connor). Challengers makes frequent use of flashbacks to tie this complicated threesome together, as Art and Patrick go from friends to enemies, Tashi and Patrick........