From Directors Jonathan Dayton
and Valerie
Faris comes Battle of the Sexes,
the real life story of the tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973.
In the 1970s, following on the emerging feminist movement,
Billie Jean King (Emma Stone),
the women’s number-one-ranked player, fought for equal pay for the female
players. She and her fellow players broke away and formed their own female-only
tour in order to compete and show that women’s tennis was a viable draw. Bobby
Riggs (Steve
Carell), an eternal hustler, saw opportunity in this division and concocted
a plan to drum up publicity and, most importantly, money for a battle of the
sexes.
While the film tells the story of the actual tennis match
and the lead up to it, it also covers what was happening in both King and Riggs’
lives at the time. King, who was married at the time, was discovering her
awakening lesbianism, while Riggs was trying to hold his family together in the
face of his compulsive gambling. However, while the film as a whole is a
feel-good movie and quite heartwarming at the end, these aspects are used for
dramatic effect, but then kind of left behind as the match looms. Billie Jean
King’s lesbianism especially is simply swept under the rug in a postscript. Her
personal journey is the most compelling aspect of the film and I would have
liked to have seen it given some more backstory. She meets hairdresser Marilyn
(Andrea
Riseborough) and suddenly is exploring her sexuality, but we never really
get a hint that this was in her background prior to this, even when Marilyn
asks her about it. It just felt odd, like the filmmakers were simply cutting to
the chase, but I felt this important element should have gotten a greater
focus. I also wanted to see a little more drama on the ladies’ tour’s side. The
tour seems to go a little too
smoothly and I have a feeling there were many more hardships than were depicted
on screen. The subject matter also felt a bit less like a feature motion
picture and more like a TV-movie—a well-produced HBO-type TV-movie, but a
TV-movie nonetheless.
Despite these quibbles, I really did enjoy the film and was
touched by Stone’s depiction of Billie Jean King’s journey. She really shines
here. Carell also does a great job at providing comic relief, but also in
showing how being that comic relief in real life affected his home life. Elisabeth Shue
does a nice job as his wife, Priscilla, as does Riseborough as King’s lover,
Marilyn. I also enjoyed Austin Stowell
as Billie Jean’s husband, Larry. He does a great job showing the conflict of
knowing that his wife is changing, but still supporting her in her career. Bill Pullman
does a good job here as the antagonist, Jack Kramer, former player and the head
of the tennis league the ladies boycott. Natalie Morales
is also really good as Rosie Casals, another player and friend of Billie Jean.
However, aside from the two leads, the highest praise has to go to Sarah Silverman
and Alan
Cumming, who are great and hilarious. Silverman plays Gladys Heldman, a
friend of Billie Jean who helps the women start their own tour and find
sponsorship from Virginia Slims cigarettes. Cumming plays Cuthbert “Ted”
Tinling, a clothing designer who designs the ladies’ tennis dresses and becomes
a friend to Billie Jean. He shares a very poignant scene with Stone at the film’s
conclusion. Both actors light up the screen when they appear.
Overall, Battle of the
Sexes is a fine film that’s only missing a few elements to make it a
must-see, but while it’s an entertaining watch, it isn’t one you need to rush
out to the theater to see. It feels more at home on something like HBO and you
may want to watch it there. That’s not to say it isn’t worthy of checking out
in the theater, but if you’re going to spend your hard-earned on a movie, it
should be something like Blade
Runner 2049.
Rating: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment