TELLURIDE – The exhibition tennis match in 1973 between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs was truly historic. Over 30,000 people were on hand in the Houston Astrodome and reportedly 50 million watched it on television in the U.S. and 90 million worldwide. It was a signature moment for the women’s liberation movement at the time and was a monster marketing opportunity for women’s tennis. Unknown to many, however, was the personal journey King was undertaking. Balancing those storylines are at the crux of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ “Battle of the Sexes” which premiered at the 2017 Telluride Film Festival.
Despite their love of tennis, King (Emma Stone) and Riggs (Steve Carell) could not have been any more different. Already a three-time Wimbledon champion, King was the no. 1 ranking female player in the world when she and World Tennis magazine founder Gladys Heldman (Sarah Silverman, good idea in theory) partnered with eight other female players to form what would be known as the Virginia Slims Tour in 1970. King was also married at the time to Larry King (Austin Stowell, not given much to work with and, no, not that Larry King) a former amateur player she’d met when they were both attending UCLA (not that it’s mentioned in the film). However, as she later explained, she was one of those people who realized she was gay later than others. According to ‘Battle,’ it turns out she fully explored her feelings for the first time with Marilyn Bennett (Andrea Riseborough, somehow always underrated), a hairdresser she met right before the launch of the tour.
Riggs was a former no. 1 men’s player who, in his mid 50’s, was seemingly bored with a Manhattan office job with little responsibility, and still enjoyed playing tennis, albeit in the most bizarre circumstances (at least according to the film). It’s during one of those fanciful boy’s nights on the courts that someone joked he could easily beat the world renowned King. It sparks an idea that Riggs simply can’t let go of. He tracks King down on the road in San Diego, calling her in the middle of the night and pitching a man vs. woman showdown in what he sees as a lucrative opportunity for both of them. King quickly dismisses him for a multitude of reasons, but Riggs persists. He eventually convinces King’s rival, Australian Margaret Court (Jessica McNamee, delivering a kinder portrayal than the homophobic Court deserves), for the first lesser-known “battle of the sexes” match. To the delight of misogynistic men everywhere, Riggs easily defeats Court, and that’s when things take a turn.
King takes her responsibility as a public figure and feminist seriously. Once Court loses, she knows she has to take Riggs up on his offer because if she beats him it will not only advance the sport, but prove that women deserve equal pay in sports, the workplace, and every aspect of society. The film reveals early on that King formed her new tour because Jack Kramer (Bill Pullman, just smarmy enough) and the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) was in favor of paying men increasingly more than women as the sport grew in the U.S. Kramer is an old friend of Riggs and had used the Court defeat in defense of his stance that male players were just inherently better. King decides she simply has to prove him and every other Jack Kramer wrong.
The conflicts are obviously real, but there is something about the tone that’s just off through most of the picture. Dayton and Faris first made their mark with “Little Miss Sunshine,” a textbook example of balancing dramatic and comedic elements in what we now call a “dramedy.” The three major ‘Battle’ storylines here don’t always mesh, often making it seem like you’re watching three different movies. The honest exploration of King’s sexuality is handled delicately without bringing anything new to the canon of gay cinema (it doesn’t help that her relationship with her husband or these feelings she’s repressed her whole life are given any real context). In fact, it’s King’s long battle with Kramer that is actually much more interesting (at least until the end of the movie). Riggs storyline is absolutely entertaining (credit to Carell for making it so) with an elegant Elisabeth Shue on hand to give his marriage troubles some depth, playing a wife resigned to the fact she’ll never stop her husband from hustling. And the match itself, the most compelling portion of the film, almost seems like its own endeavor. Balancing non-competition storylines with the gameplay is always an issue with sport films but, again, the direction here is almost too commercial to make it all feel as authentic as it needs to off the court.
The soars when it needs to, during the match itself. Dayton, Faris, production designer Judy Becker, and cinematographer Linus Sandgren deserve tremendous kudos for recreating the scene at the Astrodome (the recently demolished LA Sports Coliseum is the stand-in). It’s an impressive time warp where the circus atmosphere of the event is just as overwhelming as it should be. The execution of the tennis play is also superb as body doubles expertly recreate some of the famous back and forth volleys during the match itself. Moreover, this portion of the film features a moment delivered by King’s uniform designer Ted Tinling (Alan Cumming, arguably saving the picture) that’s such a tearjerker you almost forget it’s slightly unearned in context of the rest of the movie.
Stone is wonderful portraying King’s charismatic public persona and has an impressive scene post-match that will likely generate awards buzz. Most importantly, you believe she could be one of the greatest professional tennis players of all time, and the film would double fault without her pulling that feat off.
In the wrong hands Riggs could have been played so over the top that the character could go off the rails, but Carrell delicately provides some nuance and depth for a man who clearly cared less about tearing down the women’s liberation movement than just putting on a good show.
“Battle Of The Sexes” is a window into an era where men felt no shame in telling a woman she wasn’t worthy of equal rights to her face. Sexism was more public than it is today and it may shock some of the younger viewers just how out in the open it was. And yet, in a movie that already has a difficult balancing act to pull off, you wish it made that point a bit more firmly in a modern context. Maybe it’s because it was written and filmed during a timeframe when many thought Hillary Clinton would be president. Maybe Dayton, Faris and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy thought history would be enough. In either case, “Battle Of The Sexes” might not be a grand slam final, but it’s certainly worth the cost of seeing a match in person. [B]
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