“Challengers” is a romantic sports drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino and produced by Guadagnino, Rachel O’Connor, Amy Pascal and one of the actresses starring in the movie, Zendaya. There were some bright spots in the movie with some high flying tennis scenes, but the excessive amount of explicit scenes overshadowed a lot of the format.

The movie’s stars are Zendaya, Josh O’Conner and Mike Faist.

As of May 1, the movie has already grossed just over $29 million. The film is R-rated and has a running time of 131 minutes.

Even though this is a “romance sports drama,” there is definitely more romance than sports in the movie, although the first bit of the movie is all about tennis.

The romance is a bit overshadowed by the nudity that was shown during the movie. Yes, that may be part of romance but excessive nudity in a movie may be too much for some.

If you are only into romance, this movie may not be your first choice, but it is still a good option.

Throughout the movie, the time period shifts between the early days of 2006, when Art Donaldson (Faist) and Patrick Zweig (O’Conner) were best friends and tennis teammates, and 2019, where they are battling each other in a tennis match and are no longer on friendly terms.

This is an R-rated film for good reason. There are a lot of sexual scenes and nudity, therefore children should not be seeing it. Now if you are not really mature, then maybe you shouldn’t watch this movie either.

There are some very cool tennis scenes that fans of the sport will enjoy. The director, cinematographers and producers did an amazing job with the shots that were taken during the match. Both O’Connor and Faist showcased amazing acting during the match as well, it made me think I was watching an actual tennis match.

The match that is being played during the movie that’s between Art and Patrick cuts back and forth throughout the film. The match is like a heavyweight fight where both players refuse to lose.

The cinematography was pretty good during this movie, although there was a lack of music during some scenes. It was a missed opportunity to spice up these scenes. For example, when the movie cuts back into the match in 2019, there is a lack of music before each serve during the set. Having music before serves during the scene can give the viewer some anticipation as to what’s going to happen next.

Between the 13 year span of time that the movie shifts between, Tashi (Zendaya) has relationships with both Art and Patrick. Tashi’s relationship with Patrick starts in college, then years later she starts dating Art.

The movie does shift a lot between 2019 and 2006, showing events that have happened between the three characters that leads up to a final match between Art and Patrick. If you are accustomed to this type of format then this will not affect you. You may even enjoy it.

There was way too much nudity for me in this film, much more than I anticipated. If the viewers are like me then I suspect this might bring the viewership down.

If you want to go watch this movie right now, it is currently only showing on the big screens, but I would personally recommend that viewers wait for the movie to hit streaming services to watch it.

Overall rating: 3/5