Tennis player turned coach Tashi has taken her husband, Art, and transformed him into a world-famous grand slam champion.
To jolt him out of his recent losing streak, she makes him play a “Challenger” event — close to the lowest level of pro tournament — where he finds himself standing across the net from his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.
Director
Luca Guadagnino
Cast
Mike Faist, Josh O'Connor, Zendaya
Rating
Year
2024
Country
United States
Language
English
Main Trailer
Reviews
- "It’s a collective simmer of sight, sound, sweat, and sensation about fascinating, complex people pushed through their paces on and off the court."
- The Film Verdict - "CHALLENGERS is a sharp and snappy movie, full of big emotions expressed through fast-paced dialogue in some scenes and through silent, sensual physicality in others, all shot with creative verve and aggressively in-your-face energy. Everyone in this movie is chasing sex and success, and conflating those things with each other in unashamedly provocative ways."
- Polygon - "These competitors only feel alive when they’re bound together by the mutual intimacy of being edged to the break points of their desire, and Guadagnino’s deliriously enjoyable movie doesn’t let any of its characters get off until even the most sophisticated Hawk-Eye line-calling technology on Earth would be unable to pinpoint the exact spot where tennis ends and sex begins."
- IndieWire - "A film that volleys back and forth in time, Luca Guadagnino's CHALLENGERS builds the relationships between its leading tennis trio in exciting and exacting ways. Enhanced by layered physical performances from Mike Faist, Zendaya, and Josh O'Connor, the result is one of the sexiest and most electric dramas of 2024."
- IGN - "Luca Guadagnino directs CHALLENGERS, a time-shifting drama about a love triangle between tennis pros, as if he’s a top-seeded player so ruthlessly focused on winning Wimbledon that he’d run over his grandmother if she got between him and the stadium. Every shot is a serve, every montage a volley."
- RogerEbert.com - "It’s the most gripping sports movie in years."
- The Independent