Battle of the Sexes

Starring: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Natalie Morales, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue, Eric Christian Olsen, Fred Armisen, Martha MacIsaac, Mickey Summer, Matt Malloy, Chris Parnell, Mike Vogel
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Drama
2017

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: In 1973, the women's tennis champion (Emma Stone) battles former the former men's champion (Steve Carell) in a battle of the sexes exhibition match.

Review:

Tim: Battle of the Sexes felt like both a timely movie, as well as an effective period film. It certainly captures the United States as it was in 1973. It was shocking to see some of the blatant misogyny and the general acceptance of those viewpoints. There's an aspect of "Wow, that could never happen today!" that makes you feel we as a society have progressed. However, there's still the undercurrent of women being marginalized and continuously undervalued, which unfortunately, still exists today. In light of movements like "Time's Up", this movie spoke to how far we've come on women's issues, yet how far we still have to go. And, it captured this moment of time that many people will still remember (but some, like me, never got to experience as it was before I was born). In short, I enjoyed Battle of the Sexes on multiple levels.

Now, I certainly knew about the famous Battle of the Sexes and I knew that Billie Jean King defeated her male opponent. I didn't know any of the details, though. I didn't know much about Bobby Riggs. I didn't know that he'd already defeated a woman opponent. I didn't know that King was struggling with hiding her homosexuality and fearful of what the revelation of that would mean for her career and her life. It was just fascinating to see all the differences in this country 40+ years ago, and yet also feel stunned at how little has changed as well. A clear misogynist like Bobby Riggs wouldn't have the platform he did today, but women are still struggling with issues like equal pay and the right to not be sexually harassed/assaulted at work or basically anywhere. Gay people are certainly more accepted in the media and throughout the country, although they are still a persecuted minority. This movie just gave me a lot to think about regarding some of these social issues.

The story itself is good, but it's not as strong as it needed to be. We certainly get some insight into both King and Riggs, but for a movie whose ending is already know, it needed to draw us in significantly more. I wanted to see how it all ended, but I wasn't always thoroughly entertained throughout the two hour run time (it was about 15 minutes too long). There were moments in the middle that dragged, causing the film to sag before rebounding towards the end. The movie felt like it should have been an Academy Award contender, but was clearly a level below that. Not surprisingly, it was snubbed by the Academy (rightly), but it did pick up 2 Golden Globes nominations. That feels right. This is a good movie, but it's absolutely never a great one.

I enjoyed the cast quite a bit. It was so good to see Emma Stone and Steve Carell reunite again. They are obviously comfortable with each other. It was truly refreshing to see both of them break out of their typical roles. Both performances felt like a departure from the norm. It was exciting to see both Stone and Carell embrace characters different than what they usually play. They both have the talent to show off their range a bit. While neither performance was incredible, both were strong and effective. I really enjoyed them both here. Andrea Riseborough adds a nice supporting performance as well. She got a good amount of screen time and capitalized on it. I always like seeing Bill Pullman and he was effective here. The same can be said for Sarah Silverman, Alan Cumming, and Elisabeth Shue. This movie did a good job of putting talented actors in supporting roles and allowing them to make the movie better.

While there's a lot of elements to like here, I was never emotionally connected to anything happening on screen. Admittedly, the ending was very cool- it's hard not to feel some emotion there. But, in the build up, it simply wasn't effective enough. That prevented this from being a great movie. Still, Battle of the Sexes is a worthwhile film and one I did enjoy.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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