Challengers
Hey everyone and welcome today we will be talking about the movie Challengers. Fun Fact, former tennis player and current coach Brad Gilbert helped train the stars of this film, if you’re wondering who he might have trained, it’s people like Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, and currently Coco Gauf. This movie came out in 2024 and stars Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, and Mike Faist and was directed by Luca Guadagino. So without further ado let's get right into it.
Challengers follows tennis besties Art and Patrick who both go after the same girl, fellow tennis player and future star Tashi. Tashi is messy and not who they think she is and will flip their lives upside down.
Challengers is a romantic? sports drama that's also funny. It has similar vibes to Dreamers, King Richard, or Past Lives.
Before we dive in I must say I did really enjoy the poster for this movie. It’s a creative way to show what the film is about, having both boys in Tashi's sight or as I like to call it Zendaya and her white boys. The other Imax one is cool too that highlights that they are all tennis players and shows them when they were younger.
From the trailer of this movie, I was immediately interested in watching it. Each one of the stars has been in something where I enjoyed their performance, Zendaya in Dune and Spiderman, Josh in The Crown, Mike in West Side Story, and Luca also directed Call Me by Your Name which I enjoyed, so I was excited to see this see what he cooked up. At the time of filming this, I’ve actually seen the film twice because I somehow lucked out and went to the LA premiere which was a cool experience, and then another early screening at my local theatre. The trailers show Zendaya as the main one causing drama but don’t be fooled, the men weren’t innocent either. Also one of the best decisions for the marketing of this movie was using Man-Eater by Nelly Furtado in the trailer, that song is iconic but also describes Tashi.
Zendaya plays Tashi who was a former tennis prodigy who got injured and took up coaching. Let me just say the bob was bobbing throughout the film. After leaving the film I was thinking wow just wow Zendaya really killed this role from the mannerisms especially looking irritated to just owning the space that she was in when we saw her on screen. In this film, she was such a manipulative bitch, no other way to put it and she was a man-eater and these men fell right into her trap. Like one of my favorite scenes is Art saying I love you and she could say it back but instead she just says, I know, like rude but iconic. Throughout the movie, we just see how she loves being in control and loves the idea of these friends fighting over her. If things didn't go her way she did anything in her power to make them go her way and if you think you could out-argue her you would be wrong. In one of the intense arguments she basically told Patrick that he shouldn't have dreams cause he's 31 and should just kill himself with a gun and I was like ohhh ok harsh. She was a character you should hate but I loved her and it was so interesting to see her using everyone as pawns to get what she wanted.
Also love the subtle mention of Spider-verse when their daughter wanted to watch it considering Zendaya was in the live-action Spiderman movies even though she mentions Spider-verse I felt that was intentional.
Tashi is super manipulative and it’s shown throughout the film but the best display of that in the film is when all three of them are young and are having a three-way make-out session. This scene shows the control that Tashi likes to have with her teasing each of the guys and only kissing them when she wanted and eventually leads to them having a 3-way kiss and then there is a moment where we see her remove herself and the guys are just making out, which made my theatre applaud and made me chuckle, and then when Tashi has enough she ends it and says shes going back to her room cause shes tired. I just felt that the scene was perfect to show her manipulation of these guys and how she uses whatever she can to get what she wants but also how easily she was able to manipulate these guys into making out by giving a little of herself but then is able to remove herself and see how what she started can continue without her, like a spreading fire. This is the beginning of her being a homewrecker and just gives you a taste of what is to come in terms of the guys battling over her.
I feel like I’ve said this before but I will say it again, if there is a red carpet Zendaya will devour it. I loved how all her looks took inspiration from the film. I hope that she never separates from her stylist Law Roach because he does such a great job with her outfits.
Mike Faist brilliantly plays Art who is a Tennis player who is not on his A game but is super successful and rich. In the movie, you may think he’s just being mentally abused by his wife, which he is but he’s not innocent in the grand scheme of things and not as clueless as you would think. There is a scene showing what happened in Atlanta and while Tashi and Patrick think Art doesn’t know, he definitely knows. In the film, we see how he has been losing and it’s causing Tashi to second guess their relationship and I was kind of wondering if Art was doing it on purpose because he knew that would get under her skin. In the flashbacks, we see how even though he is best friends with Patrick, he sows seeds of doubt between Patrick and Tashi while they are dating, and even though Patrick seems to know, it still leads to them breaking up and I think what’s even worse is that when Tashi gets injured and Patrick tries to check on her out of concern she tells him to leave and you would think your friend would be like hey he’s just here to help but instead, Art took Tashi’s side and aggressively tells his friend to leave because that was his in his best interest. In the present day, he really wants to retire at the right time so he doesn’t continue playing and becoming a washed-up player. He got to where he is partly because of Tashi and I think he’s slightly blinded not only by her beauty but her talent and drive so much that he doesn’t see that her helping him just really benefits her more.
I think bringing up Art’s grandmother early on and showing him as being kind of the submissive one in the relationship is supposed to deter the viewer from thinking he could be manipulative. In the sauna scene, I thought that Tashi might have rubbed off on him after all their years together because he not only has these comebacks that would make a weak person break which Patrick is not but like Tashi, Art in this moment verbally attacks and adds in personal stuff that he knows will get under your skin which is shocking considering that Art seems like the nice one out of the three. I think Art is manipulative but I think that he’s smarter than the film leads on, he comes off as this nice guy with a pushover-like persona but he knows what he is doing and hides his manipulation better than Tashi or Patrick. When you look back he got Tashi by being manipulative and sewing doubt between her and Patrick, He got his Tennis fame by manipulating the game to work in his favor with Tashis help, and I think to an extent he manipulated Patrick, like convincing him to throw a match partly because of his grandma but also because he knows that Patrick has other feelings for him besides friendship which Patrick was going to do before Tashi came along. Art is the perfect example of winning the points that matter, you have to know how to make all this benefit you. I just found it fascinating to watch his character and I think it’s all about perspectives and when you think about aspects of the film from different perspectives you realize that Art isn’t as innocent as he may seem.
It was interesting to see that Tashi and Art had the same serving style. I assumed this was a hint at who she would end up with in the future but also maybe how her influence would rub off on him.
Josh O’Connor is great as Patrick who is just a mess. He comes from a rich family as Tashi mentions but he doesn’t want to lean on them and tries to make a name for himself which obviously isn’t going well. We see how he doesn’t go to college so he doesn’t have much to fall on and while he’s good he still doesn’t become super popular or well-known while Tashi and Art are at Stanford. It seemed like it was hinted that he had a drug problem, whether that be in the past or present, with how he was scratching his arm which could be part of the reason he struggles financially. When we see young Art and Patrick he seems more of the wild one and not afraid to try anything or anyone and as we meet him in adulthood he is still chasing this dream of being a tennis player but I feel like he needed someone to guide him and tell him which path to go because he was good but just made bad decisions. Even with Art being an old friend, that doesn’t stop him from sleeping with Tashi while they are married, twice which also made me question if the daughter is actually his.
In one of the flashbacks, we see how Patrick and Art played in pairs and were referred to as fire and ice. This was interesting to me because I feel like they were pretty impressive working together, especially when they synced up so Patrick could do that in-between-the-legs shot which I learned is called a tweener and is supposedly a difficult move. It was interesting because their playing styles complimented each other here but as the film went on I realized that these two were actually pretty different from each other which is why the friendship worked but also why it ended. They serve completely differently, Patrick has this cockiness about his tennis playing that he thinks will take him far and make him famous and has a hard time realizing that his dream might be too late. Art knows he’s good and it’s proven that he’s good by his success but he doesn’t feel the need to constantly remind people, I felt he views tennis more like Tashi does as a relationship and he’s learned how to make it benefit him and is ok with letting it go. When you see how they interact with Tashi, Patrick is more aggressive and isn’t afraid to go head to head with her which is part of the reason they broke up while Art is more submissive and does what he can to please her or get her to think he is pleasing her. Patrick is clearly the better player and in the pairs match we can see how much work he was putting in versus Art but Art is smarter as shown in the sauna scene, he knows he isn’t the best but he is strategic and plays people he knows he could win against which made him move up the ranks and become as successful as he is.
All of the characters are leeches, they are searching for something in life and they can’t get to on their own so they are leeching on to each other and that is what ties them together. Tashi gets injured as she is gaining popularity which is a big plot point and she needs both these guys to continue her love for watching tennis and stay relevant in the tennis world which is evident at the beginning of the film where there is a magazine cover that says Game Changer and she changes it to Game Changers to remind people of her influence on Art. Art, needs Tashi to be successful as a player and she knows what tournaments to enter him in so he wins and becomes a tennis legend, he screwed over his friend to get to her and while I do think he loves her, he loves more the idea of her making him so great. Patrick longs for Tashi and sleeps with her even though she is married to Art and wants her to become his coach and even though he doesn’t want to be in her fan club, he still loves her. I also think he had a little crush on Art, he kind of wants what Art has, the fame, the fortune, the career, and the person who helped him get all that is Tashi. It’s just so interesting to see them so intertwined in this tennis world. Makes you question again do I root for somebody or nobody?
I’ve never watched tennis but this film all of a sudden had me asking if I should. I just love it when I watch a movie that includes a topic and after I’m like should I learn more about this? While I do feel like tennis serves as a means to explore the complex relationship, it’s not the main focus of the film. I do love though how we see the characters have special characteristics when it comes to their tennis style which is made very clear throughout the movie.
The film is shown as non-sequential which I think benefited this movie because it was interesting to slowly explore the past while intertwining this with the future. Showing the film this way helped me understand the complexities of their relationships and maybe gave you hints and how this might all play out and made the ending so worth it.
The camera work was great in this film and there were a lot of wide shots to close-up shots and one that immediately had my attention was the one in the beginning when they’re playing at New Rochelle and we just see the spectators looking left to right. I’ve never been to a tennis game but now I’m just going to assume that everyone's heads are on a swivel as they watch. This reminded me that this is very much a spectator sport and as we were zooming into the crowd it kind of resembled to me the audience of the movie theatre watching what’s going on in this film. There were some static shots, which is when the camera seemed stationary, that were cool and I didn’t really notice until my second watch which caught my eye because so often we see these dynamic shots, which is when the camera moves to keep the action in the frame or reveal information, which is in this film but the static shots just felt much more intimate and felt as if we were connecting with these characters on a deeper level. There were some fully clothed butt shots throughout the film and I feel like I usually wouldn’t notice it but they kind of stood out and I was like should I be looking at this butt or something else. It was interesting too to see the shots focusing on Tashi’s knee to remind the viewer of what happened and how it’s something that still affects her. However, I did enjoy the tennis ball and player POV shots and that one shot that looked like we were under the court.
When Patrick and Tashi are hooking up in the end I thought it was cool framing to have the giant billboard behind the car of her and Art and it looks like Art is looking down, judging as she is hooking up with Patrick in the parking lot. The scene was shot beautifully not only framing the billboard but also the red light, the intensity of the wind, and the amazing score just made it even better.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross did such a great job composing the music for this movie. I feel like the music helped elevate the scenes but also helped show the time period of some of the scenes especially the flashbacks when you may have forgotten the era we were in. The music was loud and made me want to go to the club to be honest but made me feel like i was having an adrenaline rush.
Another aspect of helping the viewer get immersed in different time periods would be through outfits and I think Jonathan Anderson did such a great job. Early on Patrick is chatting with the lady in charge of signing in people for the match and she notes she was I think an umpire of some sort back in the day and when they do a flashback we see her in an outfit that would represent that she was there and help the viewer realize that this is in fact in the past. The scene where their at Tashi’s party really looks like outfits that would be worn in the mid to late 2000’s, like i feel like i hardly see people wearing strapless dresses. When they are in college Art is dressed like every sports player I feel like I’ve ever seen, in their sports gear and some slides and white socks that go up to at least mid-calf and Tashi eating lunch in an oversized shirt just reminded me how college kids always looked like they grabbed the first thing they saw and put it on because they are too stressed to think about anything else. Also, this is the first time we see the “I Told Ya” shirt which as you may have noticed I have on and was made popular by JFK Jr. wearing it. When the film is in the future everyone dresses differently, for Tashi and Art it’s better as they are doing well and present themselves as people to look up to, and for Patrick, he looks worse which shows his struggle.
Speaking of the outfits, when Patrick and Tashi are dating they have a big fight which signals the beginning of the end of the relationship. I noticed she puts on his shirt and when he storms out he puts on her shirt. It was something that I didn’t pay too much attention to the first time around until there is the scene where they show what happens in Atlanta which sees Patrick wearing the shirt which further proves that he still thinks about her because he’s holding something of hers. In the future when she hooks up with him she puts on a plain white shirt which may not be that shocking because it’s just a white shirt but older Tashi doesn’t look like someone who would own something like that but it is what Patrick was wearing before they broke up that she ended up putting on and I don’t know if this was intentional but I saw it as they both really couldn’t let each other go even if they do hate each other.
My favorite part of the film was the end when the serve came into play again and had me on the edge of my seat. For some context towards the middle of the film, Art tells Patrick to serve like him if Patrick slept with Tashi because Patrick doesn’t want to kiss and tell and Art says this is a way around that which leads him to serve like Art. At the end of the film, we see how Tashi sleeps with Patrick to get him to throw the match and let Art win and during the match, he starts to feel a bit of regret but also to taunt Art. This mirrors early on in the film when Patrick is going to throw the match against Art because Art’s dying grandma was watching until he changes his mind when Tashi comes into play because she says whoever wins gets her number. He starts his serve but serves it like Art would and Art just knows and is frozen and Tashi has no idea what’s going on. I think it’s the moment when Tashi finally gets outplayed in her own game and the guys basically get to a point in the match where they are tied so that the final point can prove who is better at tennis. I think it ties back to the beginning where Tashi said tennis is a relationship and for a minute her and her opponent were in love and I think this moment is also an example of that statement. In the end, Art wins I think because technically he’s over the net but it is partly luck because Patrick decides to save him from falling and hurting himself instead of trying to win. It was an intense scene that had me on the edge of my seat and the music really elevated it and made me think wow what a great way to end. While I do stand by my statement that Tashi gets outplayed at her game, this moment feels like everyone got what they wanted with Art and Patrick choosing each other over the game and Tashi getting to watch an epic match.
Challengers is a movie that I knew would be good but didn’t expect to be that good. It is surprisingly funny and filled with good drama that will have the time flying by and have you invested and wondering how this will all play out. I know it’s early but I do hope this movie gets some awards love.
