Tashi, a tennis player-turned-coach, has taken her husband, Art, and transformed him from a mediocre player 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 tournament on the pro tour — where he finds himself standing across the net from the once-promising, now burnt-out Patrick: his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.
Empire – “Challengers is exquisitely put together, a work of finely tuned precision, and with no sport for sport’s sake. Guadagnino is on truly mischievous form. This is gleeful, impish filmmaking, but make no mistake: the stakes here feel like life or death, culminating in a climax so exhilarating, you forget to breathe.”(full review here)
IGN – “Led by a trio of remarkable performances, Challengers plays like a daydream of movement, ambition, and grudges rooted so deeply beneath the characters’ skin that weeding them out might cause nerve damage.”(full review here)
NME – ” The script, by playwright and novelist Justin Kuritzkes, is brilliantly structured. Challengers unfolds like a tennis match in itself, with our sympathies frequently switching back and forth between the players as each seeks to gain the upper hand, both on and off the court.”(full review here)
