By Nathaniel R
Keep talking, Bobby. The more nonsense you spout, the worse it's going to be when you lose.
One of this fall's potential crossover films, in that it has both crowd pleasing and awards appeal (should it be any good that is) is the retelling of the super-famous Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs tennis match from 1973. Though I was alive at the time, I was way too young to know anything about that. I grew up in the age of Martina Navratilova vs Chris Evert and John McEnroe vs Everyone, though, and that match was a common cultural reference point. And tennis was the only sport I really fell in love with. Why? Couldn't say for sure but I suspect it was because it has more easily understood interpersonal dynamics (just two people... or four) at war... only non-violently. My best childhood friend and I even played tennis regularly together. I never got very good but later in high school he made the team! Which is all a terribly long way of saying, tennis movies hold instant interest in theory. They don't make them very often and they're largely unsuccessful when they do. Don't believe me, try to name more than one or two! (I'll wait).
So let's breakdown the first trailer to Fox Searchlight's Battle of the Sexes after the jump. Are we optimistic, worried, or somewhere inbetween?
YES
- Emma Stone's victory lap. It's always of interest to watch a performer in their first post Oscar role. Oftentimes they were filmed before that major life event but you can still feel that perceptions about that performer change all around you. If she's great in this people will be kinder about her Oscar win.
- Do you think of Little Miss Sunshine as a "visual" film? I don't really but something about the production design and 70s props and cinematography looks very appealing in this trailer. Can't wait to see if its accomplished work in feature form.
- Though it'd be great to see more out actors get big roles as famous gays, Emma looks as appealing as ever as Billie Jean and total chameleon Andrea Riseborough is playing her girlfriend and Riseborough is always worth watching. She's even good in terrible movies. The movie doesn't seem to be shying away from the lesbian angle which is good news. (In fact, now that I think of it maybe the gayness of women's tennis was an early influence on my interest in the sport too? I remember my parents NOT approving of Martina Navratilova, for instance.)
- Aside from the obvious win of Riseborough, this supporting cast looks kind of amazing, don'cha think? Shue, Cumming, Pullman, Silverman
NO
- Some people will tell you the late September release date is a bad sign -- that the studio doesn't believe in the movie or whatnot. I'm not sure about that but maybe it's the fate of other tennis pictures. Something makes me worried.
- Will the playful misogyny we see in the trailer via Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean and her ladyfriends playing along if only to best him, be gross at feature length. Might it be really out of step with our current moment when misogyny is now newly empowered and super ugly and everyone feels shitty about it?
- Steve Carell. Listen, he brought this on himself. When he first entered the movies he did either really small but very funny supporting roles or surprisingly impactful subdued dramatic work in comedies (he's great in Little Miss Sunshine) but as his star grew so did the performances. That's not a compliment. Asking a ham to play a ham is potentially just way too much ham.
MAYBE SO
- Will the playful misogyny we see in the trailer via Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean and her ladyfriends playing along if only to best him, be gross or 'humiliate the dinosaur!' empowering at feature length? It seems like a super tricky line to walk especially given our current moment when misogyny is no longer at a safe archaically "cute" distance but newly emboldened, super ugly, and making 70%* of the world feel super shitty lately.
- This thing will probably live or die by the nimbleness of its script. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether this will be any good!
*I've decided, somewhat arbitrarily, that 30% of humanity is hopeless and unreachably stupid or vile so we just need to focus on making sure the other 70% understands how to improve the world and peacefully coexist and not give into utterly gross and backwards patriarchal brainwashing about people with vaginas.
Are you a Yes, No or Maybe So?
P.S. And here's the fun simple teaser poster though they'll surely replace it with floating heads soon enough.
P.P.S. And for you youngsters out there, this is not the first time this story has been filmed. It was previously made into a TV movie in 2001 with Holly Hunter (PERFECTLY cast and Emmy nominated) and Ron Silver.
One weird thing that has been little remarked upon in every article ever written on the golden age of television and "peak tv" is that TV movies seem to, by and large, have the shortest of all shelf lives. You rarely see them streaming. People don't talk about them after their season in the sun. Etcetera. It's slightly different for TV miniseries but not by all that much. TV series and Movies are the things that are most likely to "last" regardless of individual quality arguments ... not sure why there's that divide but it definitely exists.
That's a pity because Holly Hunter was pretty great whenever she stepped into TV movies but it's like they don't exist anymore in the public consciousness and aren't streaming anywhere. She's been nominated five times for TV movies: The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (Emmy win), Roe vs Wade (Emmy win, not available even on DVD), Harlan County War, Things You Can Just By Looking At Her (the only one of them that's streaming - Amazon Prime) and When Billie Beat Bobby. Have you seen any of those?