Battle of the Sexes
“Battle of the Sexes” is a true
drama – light comedic sports film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
and written by Simon Beaufoy. The plot is loosely based on the lives of tennis
great Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell as
King and Riggs respectively, with Andrea Riseborough, Elisabeth Shue, Austin
Stowell and Sarah Silverman in supporting roles.
In 1973 a novice idea by former No. 1 tennis player Bobby Riggs of having a tennis match between Billie Jean King and himself became not
only the most watched televised sports event of all time, it also was a pivotal
moment in sports history for women in all endeavors of competitive sports to them
achieving some measure of greater parity and respect in their chosen fields of
endeavor.
REVIEW: “Battle
of the Sexes” doesn’t offer anything in the way of being reviting or surprising
that I didn’t already know and therefore the film largely stays in a safe predictable
lane of focusing on King’s status as tennis No.1 player and Riggs antics as an
affable and loveable father and husband.
But what the film gradually does
quite effectively is intimately reveal some of the off-court turmoil as well as
the deeply personal matters for both King and Riggs that had nothing to do with
tennis. And while these personal issues were not always obvious to the public
eye or media scrutiny it did have a profound impact on their respective individual
personal lives as well eventually the tennis game they loved as well. Specifically
we see the complexities of King’s marriage to a truly loving and supportive husband
while at the same she begins to struggle mightily to come to terms with her own
sexuality in the way of a hairdresser that she met one day. We also see Riggs comedic
outlook on life was a bit of a mask to his own personal demon of having a gambling compulsion
which not only affected him financially, it damaged his professional tennis legacy
and his marriage to a wealthy socialite who was equally supportive and loving as
well.
But the real reason to see “Battle
of the Sexes” is for the across the board sensational acting, with Emma Stone and
Steve Carell leading the way. They not only re-imagine the political and social
climates of the early 1970’s they also with a solid screenplay help make the relevance
of their tennis match seem profound again on the big screen.
If you were to read a book or
an article of this epic 1973 tennis match you would not get the full measure of
its national impact as this film does reenacting both the buildup and tennis
match itself. And while the film largely focuses on King, it's still a
compelling story, about her achievement beyond her physical ability to playing
tennis with her unusual for its time aggressive style. King comes across as a
decent woman whose only desire in life was to be the best the tennis player in the
world and to help her fellow female tennis players being treated equally financially as their male tennis USTA counterparts. King herself never seemed to understand or ever wanted to in
the moments some kind of iconic trailblazer for women's equality………………..But she was.
“Battle of the Sexes” is
highly entertaining that is also very personal, funny, warm and informative.
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