Review: Battle of the Sexes

Two tennis careers collide in this recount of the notorious 1973 tennis match between female tennis star Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and the very shy and retiring male tennis star Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell). While women players like Billie Jean are struggling for recognition and parity within the sport, self-proclaimed chauvinist Riggs is 55 years-old and looking for the next thing to bring him a little bit of attention and money. And that’s when he gets the idea of a man vs. woman tennis match. Initially King baulks, and so Riggs offers the opportunity to King’s rival, Conservative Australian tennis champ Margaret Court (Jess McNamee). Eventually though, Riggs and King are destined to have a showdown. Meanwhile, King strays in her marriage, getting involved with female hairdresser Marilyn (Andrea Riseborough). Bill Pullman is the sexist, unwavering head of the Tennis Association, Sarah Silverman is the female players’ spokesperson, Alan Cumming is a swishy fashion designer, and Elisabeth Shue is Riggs’ wealthy wife who is getting increasingly tired of his shit.

One colossal bit of miscasting nearly prevents this 2017 sports biopic from getting over the line. Directed by the team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (makers of the enjoyable “Little Miss Sunshine”), it manages to stay afloat mainly due to the irresistible real-life story at play here…but only just. The story may be fascinating, but this is a pretty superficial and surface-level treatment from screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (“127 Hours”, “Everest”), that makes it a bit less enjoyable than it might’ve been. Still, it really is one of the all-time great sporting stories, and I’m surprised someone hasn’t tackled it in cinema before. That said, given that gender pay discrepancy and sexism are themes in the film that are still very much prevalent in tennis today…perhaps its release at this point is rather timely after all.

The most interesting and well-conveyed character in the film is that of Bobby Riggs, played in terrific fashion by Steve Carell. He even looks a bit like the man. Yes, the performance is a bit schtick-y but I think that’s quite indicative of how Riggs was, or at least how he was in this particular chapter of his life. He’s a fascinating character, because how much of his chauvinistic, sexist behaviour was inherent in the man, and how much of it was simply self-promotion and carny schtick? I think the latter and Riggs’ titanic ego were more motivating factors here than any genuine sexist beliefs. Sure, he probably believed some of what he was spouting, as many did at the time. However, the man was also past his prime as an athlete and needed something to keep himself in the public eye. So he shrewdly sees playing up the chauvinistic side to his character for self-promotion and profit. It also bears mentioning, I think, that Riggs and King became friends until the former’s death. I also commend the choice of uber-macho character actors John C. McGinley and Jamey Sheridan to play Riggs’ alpha male idiot friends who get more and more horrified the longer the match goes on. Also good at playing a sexist pig is Bill Pullman, as a very old-fashioned tennis corporate bigwig who probably doesn’t even realise just how sexist he really is (Which is no excuse, in fact his character I think comes off as far more villainous than Riggs, who is shown to be somewhat of an idiot about to get his arse handed to him by King).

Aside from Carell, the film is nearly stolen by (of all people) Sarah Silverman, playing the representative of the women’s tennis players. She’s a lot of fun, if hardly subtle. Like everyone and everything here she’s working at a pretty surface-level, but it’s amusing surface. Ditto, Alan Cumming essentially playing a gay stereotype. However, since Alan Cumming and ‘gay stereotype’ aren’t terribly strange bedfellows to begin with, that’s fine. It’s his thing and he’s good at it. I don’t think every actor in the world needs to stretch themselves if they’re on to something that works for them (Yes, I know the man can be relatively versatile when he wants to), and since the film is superficial he fits right in.

By now you’ve probably worked out who I think is colossally miscast in the film. Although she is technically taller than the real-life Billie Jean King, Emma Stone is all wrong in the role. She looks petite and fragile, she actually looks too short for the role despite the facts suggesting otherwise. That’s because their body shapes are different, with Stone having a ballet background, significantly different to a tennis player’s body shape. If you’re going to be cast as a well-known public figure, it would certainly help to be pretty close to looking like that person, whether naturally or through makeup/a change in weight in preparation for the role. Stone presumably worked hard to get into shape for the role (15lbs of muscle, apparently), but it doesn’t register on screen. A great actor, of course, can possibly get you to not notice the lack of a physical resemblance. Stone is not that actress, although if you can somehow forget who she is specifically playing, her performance is OK and certainly quite appealing. I do think she plays things a little too mousy though, finding it hard to get out from beneath the big goofy glasses and her haircut. She gets one genuinely great moment near the end post-match, which is sadly followed by a screenwriter’s bit of corny speechifyin’ from the lips of Cumming. It’s phony sermonising that doesn’t belong. In the end, I just couldn’t forget that Stone actually looks less like King and more like her rival Margaret Court. Aussie actress Jess McNamee, similarly doesn’t look anything like the aforementioned Court. That said, she was clearly only cast because she was an available Aussie actress, and she certainly is indeed an Aussie. McNamee doesn’t get much of a chance to shine here, but a) The film is about Riggs and King, and b) My heart hardly bleeds for the bitter homophobic Court (and believe me, I’m being kind in my description of her), so I’m not much worried that her portrayal here isn’t 3D. Based on what I know of the real-life characters and events here, the film mostly stacks up OK, but it does fiddle around a bit on the specifics of King’s sexuality. The epilogue information is frankly a little disingenuous, because even a moment’s research will tell you that Ms. King and her husband remained married for many, many years, giving a different impression than the one the film wants to leave you with. So that was a bit unfortunate, I think.

A soft recommendation, this one’s a crowd pleaser and pretty watchable thanks to it being based on a great real-life sports story. However, central miscasting and superficial treatment keep this one from being better than it is. Steve Carell is terrific, though.

Rating: B-