Battle Of The Sexes (2017)

The (in)famous 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) that had America riveted as it dealt with its own male chauvinism and the rise of feminism. Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE) from a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE). As long as the film is dealing with tennis and gender equality, the film is very good but when it deals with King's sexuality, it's a big yawn. The film makers can't get a handle on how to deal with it so they give us movie cliches like sunsets, silhouette kisses and lines like "This can't happen again!". It doesn't help that Andrea Riseborough as King's lover isn't a very interesting actress. As expected, Stone and Carell are excellent as the rising tennis star and the hustling has been. Carell, in particular, shows us the human behind the loud mouth buffoon. Remarkably, Dayton and Faris manage to drum up a great deal of excitement and tension during the big tennis match considering we already know the outcome going in. One minor complaint: couldn't they have gotten Carell a better tennis double? The double looks nothing like him. Other than Riseborough, the supporting cast is excellent especially Elisabeth Shue and Austin Stowell as Briggs and King's spouses respectively. With Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming and Natalie Morales.