Also saw Battle of the Sexes, the new theatrical release about the 1973 tennis match between Male Chauvinist Pig (Bobby Riggs played by Steve Carrell) and Hairy-Legged Feminist (Billie Jean King played by Emma Stone). It was a real event that was a great big thing in the culture that was as much about tennis as it was feminism and equality (even if it was a circus). This movie was advertised as a kind of light comedy with a feminist theme. That’s all there, but it’s far more an LGBT romance between King and her newfound lesbianism and girlfriend.
This is an ill-matched two hour movie about tennis with a surprising lack of tennis in it. The first hour covers Billy Jean King’s feminist stances again the treatment of female tennis players (and their cash rewards compared to the men when they both sell the same number of tickets). But it isn’t about that as much as you’d think given the title and overall plot. It’s more a romance with her girlfriend and how they have to keep it a secret from the public and her (uh oh) husband. Nothing wrong with this but it spends a LOT of time on it and much less on Bobbie Riggs and the Battle of the Sexes match. Which would be fine if it actually provided more back story and character for who exactly Bill Jean King is (this is not a biopic, as it happens).
The second hour covers the run up to the big match (where Bobbie Riggs wants to prove any man can beat any woman in tennis… but it’s really just him trying to hustle up some cash) and then the final 20-25 minutes the match. The bread and circuses of the match promotion is fairly amusing (if not a little frustrating at the joking-but-real sexism) but the actual tennis match is weirdly flabby. Tennis is not something I love watching but real life tennis matches have more suspense and drama than the way this match was filmed. For a “sports” movie, I was distracted by how drawn out and undramatic the match was filmed.
This is a good enough movie that tells a decent if unfocused story. I don’t mind the focus on an LGBT relationship except in that it’s telling how little there was of that in the trailer (which in an indictment on the marketing, not the movie). I was unimpressed by the tennis action, the little there was, and I wanted more information about who Billie Jean King really was. But the focus was on a romantic relationship and the circus of the Battle of the Sexes tennis match… a combination that didn’t really fit as well as it should have.
Score: 75