Tennis is grand. It's not boring but it's never a sport I'd rush to watch. I'll happily watch a Wimbledon final but that's about it. You don't get many tennis films either. It's not particularly cinematic. A ball flying back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. There's only so much of that you could watch. It's had some big personalities though over the years. Serena Williams, Roger Federer, John McEnroe etc. The personalities attract the crowds. This film is about two of the big ones. Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.
Billie Jean King in 1972 won a tennis grand slam. Flying high she was suddenly disappointed when she finds out her next tournament has a woman's prize 1/8 the size of the men's. She vowed to form a women only tournament that became immensely popular and this rattled the establishment. The establishment that included Bobby Riggs. An ex tennis superstar turned inveterate gambler and risk taker who saw women as totally inferior to men on the tennis court. He challenged her to an exhibition match to prove once and for all who was better at tennis.
I really liked this. It's a warm and involving look at a very important moment in feminism. Timely too. It's one that doesn't ignore the social mores of the early seventies. Being a successful woman back then meant you were going to be target for scorn and sexism........actually nothing has changed really has it. The recent rise in online chauvinism and misogyny parallels what's on screen too. It wasn't a time for other things either, but I'll let you discover those if you don't know the story.
Battle Of The Sexes is a very well acted film that looks and sounds great. I love period pieces that look like they were filmed in the era they are set. It has a 70's sheen through to it's core and is bathed in warm & pretty Californian and Texan sunshine. It's shot really well too. Constantly harking back to the title. An early dinner table discussion is shot like a tennis match between husband and wife, with their son's eyes going back and forth like a match spectator. Then a scene of women and men looking into mirrors and framed to look like a face off over a tennis net. A close up scene of a woman getting a haircut is filmed as intimately as any love scene too, more so. A pretty shot of two people rising in a glass elevator over a city as the sun goes down. It's chock full of moments like this. It has a cracking soundtrack as well, using well known hits of the era in ways that's make them seem fresh and exuberant. Joy by Apollo 100. Elton John's Rocket Man playing over a scene of a couple chatting in a car driving down the Pacific Coast highway and George Harrison's What Is Life scoring a joyous montage of two people preparing for one of the biggest moments of their life.
The cast make it all work. Emma Stone is perfect as Billy Jean King, a woman torn between her personal and professional life. Her pain shining through as she struggles to make sense of the unexpected thoughts and feelings she's having. Steve Carell has a ball as Bobby Riggs. A muppet you'll find yourself enjoying despite his views. A lesser actor would have made him totally unlikeable but Carell shows his human side well. And one scene of him ranting at a Gambler's anonymous meeting is flat out hilarious. Andrea Riseborough as Marilyn, a friend of Billy Jean's and hairdresser to the players is good as well. I didn't even recognise her until the end credits. She's an actress who always disappears into her roles. Austin Stowell as Larry King is good too, his heartbreak clear as decent man who did his best for his wife and stepped aside when he realised he was surplus to requirements. The rest of the cast is filled out by a hilarious Sarah Silverman as a walking talking cloud of smoke and a hateful Bill Pullman as a man who'll make you hiss everytime he speaks.
I really liked this. It's a warm and involving look at a very important moment in feminism. Timely too. It's one that doesn't ignore the social mores of the early seventies. Being a successful woman back then meant you were going to be target for scorn and sexism........actually nothing has changed really has it. The recent rise in online chauvinism and misogyny parallels what's on screen too. It wasn't a time for other things either, but I'll let you discover those if you don't know the story.
Battle Of The Sexes is a very well acted film that looks and sounds great. I love period pieces that look like they were filmed in the era they are set. It has a 70's sheen through to it's core and is bathed in warm & pretty Californian and Texan sunshine. It's shot really well too. Constantly harking back to the title. An early dinner table discussion is shot like a tennis match between husband and wife, with their son's eyes going back and forth like a match spectator. Then a scene of women and men looking into mirrors and framed to look like a face off over a tennis net. A close up scene of a woman getting a haircut is filmed as intimately as any love scene too, more so. A pretty shot of two people rising in a glass elevator over a city as the sun goes down. It's chock full of moments like this. It has a cracking soundtrack as well, using well known hits of the era in ways that's make them seem fresh and exuberant. Joy by Apollo 100. Elton John's Rocket Man playing over a scene of a couple chatting in a car driving down the Pacific Coast highway and George Harrison's What Is Life scoring a joyous montage of two people preparing for one of the biggest moments of their life.
The cast make it all work. Emma Stone is perfect as Billy Jean King, a woman torn between her personal and professional life. Her pain shining through as she struggles to make sense of the unexpected thoughts and feelings she's having. Steve Carell has a ball as Bobby Riggs. A muppet you'll find yourself enjoying despite his views. A lesser actor would have made him totally unlikeable but Carell shows his human side well. And one scene of him ranting at a Gambler's anonymous meeting is flat out hilarious. Andrea Riseborough as Marilyn, a friend of Billy Jean's and hairdresser to the players is good as well. I didn't even recognise her until the end credits. She's an actress who always disappears into her roles. Austin Stowell as Larry King is good too, his heartbreak clear as decent man who did his best for his wife and stepped aside when he realised he was surplus to requirements. The rest of the cast is filled out by a hilarious Sarah Silverman as a walking talking cloud of smoke and a hateful Bill Pullman as a man who'll make you hiss everytime he speaks.
It's a film peppered with small telling moments. The smile on the face of a waitress in an old boys club. Looks of disbelief and disgust about personal revelations. An arm around an uncomfortable looking interviewee. The little kitchen jokes. Even with the edges slightly smoothed off for a multiplex audience the films still gets across well the shittiness of the times. It's done well in a way that teaches us while never being condescending or taking away from the sheer entertainment value of the film. There's scenes that will give you the rage but there's also moments where you'll pump your fist in the air and seeing the smugness gradually fading from faces never ever gets old. If i had to have one niggle it's that at 2 hrs it feels slightly overlong but that's just a small thing.
Go see this if you can. It's an important and timely history lesson. You'll "love" it.
Sorry, I had to get a tennis pun in somewhere.
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