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Battle of the Sexes (2017)
A tennis movie that's not really about tennis
The hardest thing about making one of these historical biopics is that everyone already knows exactly what happened. As I watched it with my mom, she would intermittently remind me that she did, in fact, watch the match happen when she was about 7 years old, and I'm sure many of the older folks in the theater remember it much more vividly. I just want to know, was the match in the film exciting for them at all?
I mean, we all knew what was gonna happen, but I feel like having actually watched the match while it was really happening with no actual idea of who was gonna win is just way more exciting and could never compare to the film. That's why I'm glad the movie wasn't really about the match. It was more about Billie and Bobby. No one walked into this movie wondering who is gonna win the match. They went to see it to find out about the people who were playing it.
One of them, as it turns out, was having a steamy lesbian affair with their hairdresser, and the others' marriage was being torn apart by a gambling addiction. The way the movie showcases the two players' secret lives is done well, but not amazingly, especially with Bobby Riggs. He has approximately 2 scenes with him and his wife, and it doesn't sell their relationship well. It sells it so poorly in fact, that at one point Rigg's wife actually has to remind him why she loves him in the first place. We get hints that she is mad at him with a classic clothes-out-the-window scene, but Elizabeth Shue plays Pricilla so unaffectedly that it really seems like she could care less, even when confessing her love for him. Their whole dynamic feels a bit forced and unsubstantial. Rigg's addiction problem is pretty hilarious to watch though, especially when he whips out a deck of cards at his gambler's anonymous meeting, proclaiming that they're not here because they're gamblers, they're here because they're bad gamblers
Billie Jean and Marilyn's story is much more interesting. After one of the more intimate, beautifully shot and well-acted haircuts I've seen in a long time, Billie starts to feel a certain kinda way towards her hairdresser Marilyn, leading to a steamy romance. Is cheating on your husband a good thing? No. Is discovering your sexual preferences important? Yes. Basically, I'm torn. They have great on screen chemistry and I want to root for them, but cheating is bad, I guess. The movie doesn't really make clear what it wants you to think about Billie's affair, especially when Billie's husband Larry finds out about it (within his first 10 minutes on screen) and still is supportive of her up to the match.
My one big gripe, though, is the fact that the final act of the movie is literally a tennis match. It's a great tennis match don't get me wrong, but if I wanted to watch Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs, I could have looked the match up on Youtube. Now obviously, they could not have just excluded the match from the film, but they fail to add ANY context to it that watching it on Youtube couldn't already provide. All we see is the two of them facing off, with frequent cuts to random characters reacting. It all just feels pointless. A good sports movie should take you behind the scenes to what you can't see with the telecast. I suppose that's an inherent problem with tennis movies. What you see is, for the most part, what you get. Luckily, the move doesn't dwell on the match itself for too long.
After King emerges victorious in the face-off, Alan Cumming's Ted, the gay best friend, delivers a VERY not subtle moral to the story. Something along the lines of "one day we'll be able to be who we want to be and love who we want to love." So is this movie about women? Is it about lesbians? Is it about cheating? I don't know. It's kind of about all of those and also kind of about none of those. It's really just about a person who, with the whole world against her, overcame adversity and proved that she was stronger than anyone thought. So, it's a sports movie. A sports movie that just so happens to involve a lesbian affair. It's kind of a strange film if you think about it. Strange, but still pretty good. I recommend it if you're a fan of tennis, or feminism.