The Challengers was ok. I saw the movie by myself a little while ago in theaters, now I’m sitting here trying to remember why I wanted to go watch it in the first place. It’s not bc of Zendaya’s star power- while undeniable, I don’t know how relevant it was to this movie. Let’s be honest, while she certainly can bring the crowds in, it was the dishy, nay, scandalous plot line that drove people into the theaters. Zendaya + two moderately attractive dudes competing for her attention. Well, we love desperate men, don’t we?

But in actuality, that dishy plotline was a catfish! For the first time ever, our heroes were embroiled in a real life love triangle! He wants her, he also wants her, she wants them (kinda), they want each other. Not truly a homosexual attraction, but rather, a homosocial one. Though that doesn’t make the yearning any less palpable lol.

I was surprised at how earnestly The Challengers portrays the relationship between Art and Patrick. This is something that I think most guys will never admit out loud, but men care deeply about each other. Like deep, emotionally. Straight men, if that wasn’t clear. I don’t think Art and Patrick are into each other in that way, but that’s just what makes their relationship even more fascinating. I mean, come on, it would be way too easy to dismiss the lengths they go to cover up their true feelings with “oh they’re just repressed.”

How do I explain the make-out scene? (I can hear you thinking it.)… horniness. That’s it. Caught up in the moment and what Tashi wanted them to do. And Tashi, well, atp Tashi must stand in for the audience. It wouldn’t make any sense otherwise. She wants to watch. We want to watch.

More than anything Tashi wants to play tennis. When she gets injured, she’s lost all sense of motivation, direction. We see Tashi start to spiral. No man can sate her drive, her hunger for victory. She’s got to be the best, and sorry but a bf is a poor consolation prize. Tashi is never the same after her accident. That is of course until the end of the film when she reconnects with her long-lost love, tennis. That’s also when Art and Patrick reconnect on the court.

What do I think this means? About tennis? About life? About relationships? Frankly, I don’t really care. It was a fun film and that’s that. I went in expecting a sports epic and I got a movie about two bros who need to hug it out. I’m not complaining. It was nice. It was nice to see that sorta relationship validated on screen bc tbh every guy I know is like that with at least one of his buddies. More confirmation for me that they weren’t subtle.

If there was one thing I didn’t like about The Challengers, it was the music. The sporadic insertion of techno beats into the background just did not make sense to me. Mostly because the insertion of the music was used to transition cuts. The music would start up randomly in the middle of a scene, low at first then increasing in volume and pace. Then suddenly— CUT TO: a cafeteria, a low key motel room (idfk)— then the BEATS STOP.

HIGH ANGLE SHOT:

Art laying on the bed alone reading a book.

I can’t actually remember if there’s a scene like that in the movie, but I just really feel like the music fucked with the pacing in unsettling ways. Tbh at some point I was really questioning what kinda movie I was watching. Is this a horror film? Is something gonna jump out and grab him? Spoiler alert: nothing like that ever happened.

My heart rate would be elevated watching two ppl have a very tense and stilted conversation. If that was some attempt at manufactured arousal I can say with certainty, it’s not effective. If anything, that was passable at producing manufactured anxiety. Like, please just stop. Stop it.

I really only had two questions remaining after watching this movie. Not, what happens to Art and Patrick? Not, what does Tashi’s “COME ONN!!!” mean? But—

1. Who was the person scoring this movie? &

2. Did they actually watch the movie while scoring it?

It just doesn’t make much sense for me, (Im sorry I’m still going w/ this apparently), to produce what you know is going to be a blockbuster type of film, then score it like it’s an A24 movie. I don’t get it. I really don’t. I guess I’m not the true cinephile I once pretended to be :(

Overall, it was ok. The Challengers was just ok… I’d still watch it again tho.