Why I hate: Challengers

Am I going mad? Out of all the films that get unanimous priase, this is one of them?

Not often do I think that I am going crazy, but when I hear people rave and rant over Challengers, I think I must be.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t fathom how people think this insufferable film is one of the best films of the decade, or even good at all.

Don’t get me wrong, I was excited for Challengers. I enjoy a bit of tennis now and again - not anymore, this film ruined it for me -  and when you factor in Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor are our titular characters, it is enough to get me excited for what I hoped would be one of the best films of 2024.

Which it isn’t. Not even close. I’d argue one of the worst, by far.

Zendaya is tennis prodigy Tashi. While at a tournament, she meets long-term friends Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor), fellow tennis players who are instantly head over heels for her.

This starts which might be the most annoying love triangle put to screen. Tashi starts dating Patrick, while Art pulls strings in the background to break them up.

Tashi then gets an injury which ends not just her relationship, but her tennis career. Since she is tennis-obsessed, she becomes a coach to try to scratch the itch playing gave her.

She starts to coach Art and leads him to tennis stardom. Not only that, she marries Art and has a kid with him. Cute right? Nope, she is cheating on him, several times with former best friend Patrick.

This all comes to a head at a challengers event, where Art and Patrick both face each other again.

Why is it so unnecessarily convoluted? I have no idea.

I understand what director Luda Guadagino was going for. Tennis is a very intimate sport, and having these attractive actors swooning over each other while playing against each other could, and should have worked.

But when every character is an awful human, my only saving grace was hoping the rest of them have career-ending injuries so that the film can be cut short.

What aggravates me the most is the film's insistence that Art is the villain. He’s no saint admittedly. His antics when they were younger were shady at worst, and if you do a lot of mental gymnastics you can pin Tashi’s injury on him, but does that mean he deserves to be cheated on constantly? No, obviously not.

I’m not going to route for Tashi and Patrick who are breaking up a family just because Art was immature when he was younger and because they have a hot and steamy sex scene in a car.

I don't want to route for anyone in this film other than the credits. The beautiful credits that pull the curtain on one of the worst viewing experiences I have had.

But even the credits are not immune to the plagues of this film, because the obnoxious techno score that has been booming in the background for the whole film continues.

It feels like any momentum the film tries to gain is instantly undercut by something that ruins it.

The most egregious example of this is the overuse of slo-mo shots. It’s cool the first time, passable the second, but when what feels like the 100th time I’ve seen a slo-mo of a ball bouncing or someone's face in the span of ten minutes, I’d rather someone just come and hit me in the face with a tennis racket.

The unanimous praise for this film was so loud, that I almost gaslighted myself into thinking I was wrong and it was great. 

I wasn’t, it was as bad as I remembered and no matter what explanation you give me, I will not be convinced otherwise.

I hope I never have the displeasure of watching through this again. If I’m asked, I’ll hand them a tennis racket and some tennis balls and they can repeatedly hit the balls at my head for two hours instead.

I’d probably enjoy that more.