Challengers (2024)

Jack and I enjoyed this story of three professional tennis players at different stages in their careers, despite its veering back and forth between the sports and the love triangle. Three beautiful stars carry the plot which begins with Patrick (Josh O'Connor), broke and trying to get back into tournament play, Tashi (Zendaya), now a tenacious coach, and her husband and client Art (Mike Faist), who's got the yips (performance anxiety--am I using the right sports metaphor?). There are lots of flashbacks to different times in their lives. When Tashi is in a scene, her hairstyle will confirm when it's taking place.

We were getting impatient at the pace changing from languid (the romance) to frantic (the sports) until I remembered that it's directed by Luca Guadagnino, Italian auteur known for his poetic approach. Several times I observed the camera lingering a long time on something, only to have a character do or say something to advance the plot at the very end of the sequence. That said, the tennis scenes are exciting.

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross's score, available on Apple Music, does capture the different moods quite well. There are also a bunch of songs, listed here, including two by the Toronto Children's Chorus.

Zendaya was last blogged for Dune, Faist for Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game, Guadagnino for Call Me By Your Name, and Reznor & Ross for Empire of Light.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are serving up some love (wait, I think I'm mixing the tennis metaphors) with an 89% average, while its audiences are simply volleying (did I get that one right?) at 73. We rented it on Apple TV on May 26.