“Challengers” is a bit of a tease. That’s what makes it fun.
There is plenty of skin, sweat, close-ups of muscly thighs and smoldering looks of lust and hate in this deliriously over-the-top psychodrama. But get that image of Josh O’Connor,Zendaya and Mike Faist sitting together on the bed out of your mind. Most of this action takes place on the tennis court.
It’s still a sexy tennis movie about friendship, love, competition and sport set to a synth-y score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross — it just might not contain exactly what you think it does. But remember, Luca Guadagnino is the one who filmed Timothée Chalamet with that peach, perhaps more memorable than any actual sex scene from the past decade. Manage expectations, but also trust.
And like “Call Me By Your Name” did for Chalamet, “Challengers” is one of those rare original big-screen delights that firmly announces the arrival of a new generation of movie stars. Zendaya and Faist already had a bit of a leg up. She has played significant supporting roles in some of the biggest movies of the past few years, from “Spider-Man” to “Dune,” and he had had his big cinematic breakthrough as Riff in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.” But it’s O’Connor who really comes out on top, effectively shedding any lingering image of him as a whiny, dweeby Prince Charles in seasons three and four of “The Crown.” In “Challengers,” his Patrick Zweig is the cocky, flirty, slightly mean, slightly dirty and slightly broken bad boyfriend of our fictional dreams.
Food influencer lifts the lid on little
Inside the $95B House package focused on aiding Ukraine, Israel
OJ Simpson has been cremated, estate attorney in Las Vegas says
Regulators pleased Union Pacific is using fewer temporary shipping limits
Teresa Giudice, 51, of RHONJ poses with her mini
Republican AGs attack Biden's EPA for pursuing environmental discrimination cases
Coco Gauff reaches Stuttgart quarterfinals with win over Vickery
Appeals court leaves temporary hold on New Jersey's county line primary ballot design in place
Judge OKs phone surveys of jury pool for man charged in 4 University of Idaho student deaths
Man arrested after authorities say he threw pipe bomb at Satanic Temple
Erik Jones to miss Dover race because of broken lower vertebra
South Carolina Republicans reject 2018 Democratic governor nominee's bid to be judge