Challengers review: An electric, sexy sports flick with balls

Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers is a punchy exploration of power, athleticism, and sex, and solidifies its cast as three legends in the making.

Every once in a while, we’re told that the erotic thriller is back. A cinematic product of time gone by, a revival has never quite come about in the way we’d want. This is mostly because modern takes on the decidedly ’90s genre always seem to miss the point — a point that Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers seems to completely understand: movies like this should be weird, hot, and really, a little pointless.

In every sense, Challengers — which stars Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist — is a throwback. It’s slick, riddled with sex and scheming, and is a visual spectacle in the most wonderfully overwrought way.

Those looking for a run-of-the-mill sports drama will be disappointed. Challengers isn’t this — it’s a feature-length thirst trap where tennis isn’t the only game being played.

“A love triangle where all corners touch”

In Challengers, tennis is the backbone that supports the rise and fall of Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), an athletic prodigy whose promising career is cut short after an injury. Years later, she enters her husband, Art (Faist), into a “challengers” tournament in an attempt to get his confidence back after a losing streak. What they soon learn is that he’ll be facing off against Patrick (O’Connor), Tashi’s ex-boyfriend and Art’s estranged best friend.

With a toxic and sex-obsessed history hanging over them, the tournament becomes a battleground for the trio, who all have failing relationships with the sport. A three-way manipulation ensues, led by Tashi’s power-driven attempt to earn a legacy she never had the chance to try for.

With a cast that feels so youthful and a heavy reliance on teen flashbacks, Challengers, in the wrong hands, could have felt like a Kidz Bop version of something from the golden era of the genre, or a hormone-impassioned US Open fanfiction. But the leading trio are so capable that what we get is something self-aware, highly stylized, and (at times) genuinely sexy. Think Cruel Intentions, but better, and with an umpire.

The power of three

Zendaya — who is also credited as a producer on the new movie — takes charge in her first official leading role in a feature. It’s been said, but it’s true: the part seems made for her. Where she’s especially convincing is in the early years, wherein she’s an ambitious but tactical young tennis player. She knows her future is designed for greatness, brand deals, and trophies, so why rush? When she’s injured and that future shatters, you’re not sorry for her so much as genuinely baffled.

Zendaya is the star, but it’s not her movie by a mile. O’Connor and Faist’s on-screen dynamic is what gives Challengers its energy. They have a rapport that bites, and their differences are so perfectly played by the duo that it’s not only fun to watch them verbally rally back and forth, but also completely believable how far they drift from each other in later years.

Warner Bros.

God help anyone who stars opposite Mike Faist because he’s always the one to beat. Art grows into a slightly conniving, weakened mess as time goes on, but thanks to Faist, it’s not off-putting and never verges into cringe-worthy levels of pathetic. Ultimately, Faist shines when he gets little moments of power, and easily gets the best line in the film during a particularly snarky encounter with Patrick in a sauna.

But O’Connor absolutely shines, too. Patrick has an aura of evil about him, but it’s impish and accidental rather than genuine. He’s not a villain. There are no villains here. Or, actually, they’re all villains. Justin Kuritzkes’ snappy and nicely camp script allows both to be true.

Challengers review score: 4/5

Challengers isn’t perfect. It takes a while for the vibe that everyone inevitably bought a ticket for to get going. The pace is perhaps a little choppy, but it’s cool enough, and the moments that matter land so well, particularly during the final scene. The electric, throbbing score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is absolutely perfect but is ever-so-slightly overused in moments where you’d rather be able to focus on the scathing banter from the leads.

But overall, Challengers is so satisfying to look at. It’s damp, bright, and if you reached your hand out you might feel the sizzle coming from the tennis court and the sweat pouring from bodies. The matches themselves are depicted with neck-breaking speed and seat-gripping slow-motion, where the tennis ball becomes an object of danger.

Movies used to be like this — needlessly cool, visually throttling, and horny in a way that’s more sloppy than chic. If a new era of big-screen eroticism does take off, then we’ll have Challengers to thank.

Challengers will be released exclusively in theaters on April 26, 2024. For more, check out all the best movies to stream this month, and take a look at all the best movies of 2024 so far.