Challengers (2024)    MGM/Drama    RT: 131 minutes    Rated R (language throughout, some sexual content, graphic nudity)    Director: Luca Guadagnino    Screenplay: Justin Kuritzkes    Music: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross    Cinematography: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom    Release date: April 26, 2024 (US)    Cast: Zendaya, Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor.

Rating: **

 The tennis-themed sexual drama Challengers was bumped from its original September release date to the final weekend of April due to the actors strike. That’s the official story. I think there’s more to it. It’s my theory that the studio relegated it to the weekend before the summer movie season kicks off because they had no idea what to do with it. I’m not sure what to make of it myself.

 Technically, Challengers is a sports drama. It centers on tennis players playing in a big match. The two players in question were best friends at one time. Now they’re rivals. Why? Why else? A girl came between them. We learn the three characters’ backstory via flashbacks as the game proceeds. That’s where Challengers strays from the road most traveled by most sports dramas. It’s less about tennis than it is about the shifting power dynamics between three rather unlikable people. The two guys do whatever they can to win the girl while she sits back and plots her next move. It’s not what you expect to see in a movie about sports. I think this is going to put a lot of people off.

 I pretty much already told you what Challengers is about. Now let’s talk about who’s in it and their characters. The star of the show is Zendaya of Euphoria and the most recent Spider-Man movies. She plays Tashi, a former tennis champ whose career was cut short by a crippling knee injury. Now she’s a coach and manager. Her only client is her husband Art (Mike Faist of West Side Story) who’s presently undergoing a crisis of confidence. In order to help him get his mojo back, she signs him up for a Challenger event where they unexpectedly run into Patrick (Josh O’Connor from The Crown), the aforementioned ex-friend whose life didn’t turn out the way he planned it. He’s basically a nobody who lives out of his car while barely eking out a living in pay-for-play matches. Naturally, Tashi and Art aren’t happy to see him.

 I’m sitting at my computer trying to figure out what to say about Challengers. It’s not often that a movie leaves me this confounded. It has some good points. The acting is quite good with Zendaya being the stand-out. However, the three principal characters are all awful. Worse, they’re the only characters of note in the film. We meet a few others- e.g. Tashi’s mother, a tennis official, a girl Patrick finds on a dating app- but only in passing. At 131 minutes, Challengers is too long and drawn out, but it’s never actually boring. The tennis sequences are well shot, exciting even. The credit for that goes to cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Call Me by Your Name).

 I have to be honest here. I’m not the biggest fan of Guadagnino. I find most of his movies pretentious and overrated- e.g. A Bigger Splash, Call Me by Your Name. The only one of his films I like is Bones and All. For all its big ambitions, Challengers just didn’t do it for me. I admire it but I can’t say for sure what the director is going for. As such, I don’t think I can recommend it. But that’s just me. I’m sure there are people who will think it’s great. I’d sure like to hear their reasons.