Long story short: Challengers is arguably the sexiest film of the past decade.
Directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor, this psychosexual tennis drama is dripping in seduction and sweat—both literally and figuratively.
The movie begins as a deep slow burn, introducing us to our central trio over a series of scenes that take place in 2019. One is eventually dispersed into various timelines throughout the threesome’s journey of meeting each other and becoming intertwined, building into a fascinating character study on all three leads and their feelings toward one another.
To get the obvious out of the way, Zendaya absolutely demolishes this role. She is given an incredibly complex and multifaceted character to play, and she takes every bit of this opportunity to show off her skills as one of the best actresses we have today. Her character is meant to be unlikable yet magnetic, successful but broken, and every character beat is remarkably portrayed by Zendaya.
Faist is also the perfect casting choice for his role as Art Donaldson, a tennis player and Stanford student who quickly rivals his best friend after falling head-over-heels for Zendaya’s character. While the other two leads have an edge and grit to them, Faist plays a puppy dog-type character and represents the desire for human connection rather than success or control—something the other two characters deeply crave instead. Faist’s body language in this film is impeccable, and it’s very clear that there will be thirst edits of him all over TikTok in the coming weeks, so please prepare yourselves. An actor has never made sweat look so good.
Closing out our trio is O’Connor, who plays an unsuccessful but charismatic man with a love for tennis. Guadagnino definitely watched God’s Own Country (2017) before calling up O’Connor and deciding to cast him, because his character in both films share many similarities—although, unlike God’s Own Country, he feels much warmer and more charming in this role. His character’s motives throughout the film are the hardest to read out of the three leads, which adds a lot of intrigue to his performance. He has fantastic chemistry with both Zendaya and Faist, which manifests itself into some unforgettably steamy interactions.
Social media users have not stopped asking one question since the first official trailer dropped: “Do the guys ever kiss in this?” And, without spoilers, it is with 100% certainty that anyone seeking homoeroticism will be granted their wish. The film is directed by Guadagnino after all, who delivered us the scene that brought both peaches and Mr. Chalamet to stardom.
Somehow, despite there being slightly less nudity and intensity than Call Me by your Name, Challengers manages to be even more seductive and enticing with the way it portrays sexual tension throughout the film. There are two scenes in particular that audiences will obsess over, with Guadagnino supporting the churro business in the same way he has supported peach farmers for all these years.
Every character in this film is shot in a way that makes the audience feel entranced by them. The characters are discussing tennis most of the time, and Guadagnino somehow finds a way to make these chats about tennis some of the most seductive pieces of dialogue he’s ever made.
There is one scene in Challengers that is undeniably the best part of the entire film, and it’s the one you’ve already seen pictures of everywhere. When Zendaya joins Faist and O’Connor for a throuples night-in with her pink hoodie on, the whole theater becomes collectively glued in. Every moment is drenched with physical chemistry and sexual tension, and it truly showcases some of Zendaya’s best work ever—her character feels wildly manipulative, playful, seductive, and calculated all at once. There is a humorous element to the scene that also adds the cherry on top of a phenomenal cinematic moment.
All three leads feel fleshed out and complete, pairing nicely with Guadagnino’s thesis and representing different perspectives on how the desire for control, success, or human connection can affect someone. The movie provides an analysis on intimate relationships being entangled with career goals and friendships, and how certain desires can impact all these things to create a toxic environment for oneself and those around you.
One impressive detail about Challengers, which I believe to be intentional, is Guadagnino choosing to set the most current timeline in late 2019—right before the pandemic. By placing the characters and their important tennis tournament in a time where sports will soon cease to exist because of a global lockdown, one realizes that the tennis tournament Faist and O’Connor’s characters are competing in is not even worth any actual chance at a major title. It further belittles the importance of success as being less than the importance of human connection.
Challengers is razorship when it comes to acting and screenwriting, but there are some directorial choices that feel odd or overdone throughout the film.
One is definitely meant to take note of the editing choices while watching Challengers, as the quick and abrupt cuts are very stylized and not intended to feel natural—particularly when jumping from timeline to timeline. It feels like a lot of the stylized editing choices get too noticeably repetitive, but there are some slo-mo moments that feel perfectly melodramatic and fun.
While the idea to have dialogue-heavy scenes where the camerawork reflects a tennis match sounds incredible on paper, it doesn’t always land. This also goes hand-in-hand with the innovative choice to have the film’s score be entirely inspired by Berlin techno and ’90s rave music. The score is bombastic, loud, and provides some scenes with an added campy quality, which works quite well for the first half of the film. However, the score starts pouring in too often, particularly in scenes where it’s absolutely not needed, and the music ends up detracting from some scenes that would have otherwise held much more power and weight. The score will be one of the most divisive aspects of the film as a whole, as it is probably the most in-your-face thing about the entire movie.
Challengers feels dragged out toward the end, with some scenes feeling unnecessary to progressing the tension and overall plot, but the final tennis match electrifies the game of tennis to such a degree that Guadagnino successfully ends things on a magnificent and satisfying note. The ending is such a joy to watch play out.
Although it misses a few marks from a technical standpoint, everyone interested in watching Challengers will get exactly what they’re looking for: tennis groans, Zendaya at her best, the throuple of a lifetime, and some of the sexiest scenes of the 21st century.
Challengers releases in theaters on April 26.
