“Do you think I’m too old for Challengers?”
That was the text I sent a friend a few minutes into the acclaimed film from writer Justin Kuritzkes and director Luca Guadagnino that’s now available on VOD. I’ve been pretty interested in watching the film about a love triangle set in the world of tennis, starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor, but as the film got going I started to feel, well, kind of, sort of old, and that I just couldn’t relate to the sexual tension between these three young people.
Yeah, I wrote “young people.”
I stuck with it, though, as there was definitely something I found intriguing about how Art (Faist) and Pete (O’Connor) managed their tennis ambitions, longstanding friendship, and desire for Tashi (Zendaya). I also thought everything that surrounded their story was captivating – the electronic score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, one of their best, to be sure; the unique though sometimes jarring ways in which director Guadagnino depicted the on-court matches and the ways tennis balls would come shooting towards the camera.
While all of the above, along with the outstanding performances from the three leads, managed to suck me into Challengers, as the film progressed, my general feeling of discomfort never went away, and by the midway point I finally realized why I was having a visceral reaction to what I was watching.
Simply put, I found the three main characters completely despicable.
Now, having a reaction like that is in many ways a good thing. The worst thing that can happen when you watch any movie is that you just don’t give a shit about any of the characters. I’ve turned off films where I don’t feel engaged with who’s on screen. At the same time, though, I find it difficult to watch a two hour movie and not feel any empathy for the leads. There are moments here and there in Challengers where I felt something akin to sympathy, most notably when Tashi is injured on the court, but that’s a brief piece of the film.
Instead, Challengers‘ despicable three are backstabbing, narcissistic, and amoral, all to each other, so watching three relative jerks be jerky to one another and not finding a way in to empathize with any of them made for a decidedly uncomfortable viewing experience.
Maybe I am too old for Challengers, and all of the sexy shenanigans between its unappealing main characters. However, it does deserves the kudos its been receiving for its performances and its technical prowess. It’s not a feel good film, but it left me feeling, and that’s an accomplishment every film should strive for.
