Battle of the Sexes
Cert: 12A; Now showing
So much has changed since 1973 and the events depicted in Battle of the Sexes. And so much has not. It makes this really enjoyable film not only interesting and engaging but weirdly pertinent. Steve Carell and the trailer notwithstanding, this is not a comedy, it’s a drama with funny bits and has lots to like for a broad audience.
When they were refused equal pay despite equal ticket sales, champion tennis player Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and her manager Gladys Heldman (Sarah Silverman) persuaded other women players to set up their own tennis tour. Much to their critics’ — led by US tennis boss Jack Kramer (a tremendously supercilious Bill Pullman) annoyance — this proved a great success. Thus, at the height of the Women’s Liberation movement BJK captured the zeitgeist.
Meanwhile, former tennis champion Bobby Riggs (Carell) is desperately bored in his happy retirement under the thumb of his wealthy wife (Elisabeth Shue). Seeing a way back into the limelight, Riggs challenges BJK to a match that will prove men are better than women. Really. In addition, the fight for women’s rights coincides with BJK’s dawning realisation that while her gorgeous husband Larry (Austin Stowell) is great, she is far more attracted to a woman called Marilyn (Andrea Riseborough). Co-directors Valerie Faris and Jonathon Dayton, working from Simon Beaufoy’s screenplay, deliver a layered, moving, funny and fascinating movie.