'Battle of the Sexes' a sharp cultural snapshot of inequality, chauvinism
"Battle of the Sexes" provides more than a crowd-pleasing, fact-based, formula sports drama about a strong character overcoming personal and social barriers much bigger than tennis nets.
It captures a cultural snapshot of who we were and what we thought 44 years ago, a period we can now see for what it really was: an incredibly sexist time that failed to live up to the lyrics in "Aquarius."
Directing with efficient panache, Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton (they gave us "Little Miss Sunshine") wisely resist villainizing the boo-hissable, overtly sexist Bobby Riggs, or canonizing bisexual tennis champ Billie Jean King, a true Wonder Woman of her time.
Their historic 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match began as a way for Riggs, a 55-year-old former tennis-star-turned-gambling-addict-and-shameless-self-promoter to fill his wallet while keeping America's little ladies in their place (the kitchen or the bedroom).
Steve Carell crafts his portrait of Riggs as a lost adolescent trapped in the middle-aging body of a man who needs a good hair cut.
Emma Stone pulls off a stunning feat of acting alchemy as King, suggesting the driven and guarded nature of the real player while imbuing her character with lucid, emotional transparency.
(Later in the film, real ABC sportscaster Howard Cosell observes that King, then 29, could be Hollywood material - if she'd dump the eyeglasses and get a new coif.)
King's husband, Larry (a Robert Redford-grade blond named Austin Stowell), acts as her coach, manager and trainer. When he discovers a strange bra in his wife's hotel room, he correctly assumes that cute Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough) might be more than the tennis pro's hairdresser.
The depiction of the subtle romantic combustion between King and Barnett is a beauty. It occurs during a seductive hair-cutting sequence constructed with softly transitioned tight shots of glowingly aware faces, given emotional resonance by Nicholas Britell's evocative, understated score.
They know what will happen should this relationship become public. Surprisingly protective, Larry remains dedicated to his wife.
Most baby boomers already know how "Battle of the Sexes" turns out, especially if they were part of the 48 million viewers who tuned in to the Sept. 20, 1973, broadcast.
Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy smartly establishes the game stakes early on when King and her chain-smoking publicist Gladys Heldman (Sarah Silverman) get rudely rebuffed by chauvinist tennis association bigwig Jack Kramer (a spot-on Bill Pullman). He refuses to equalize the 8-to-1 pay discrepancy between men and women.
King and her fellow players join the emerging Virginia Slims Tournament, augmenting a national, anti-feminist wave that the bombastic, opportunistic Riggs gleefully surfs.
The impressively mounted match at the Houston Astrodome resembles an actual sports broadcast - no cutaways or close-ups - efficiently edited to maximize suspense. (The real match lasted only three straight sets, just over two hours.)
At the end of "Battle of the Sexes," I wondered what a Hollywood snapshot like this, 44 years from now, would reveal about who we are and what we think in 2017?
Because when it comes to inequality and chauvinistic attitudes, "Battle of the Sexes" suggests we have not come a long way, baby.
“The Battle of the Sexes”
★ ★ ★ ½
Starring: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Elizabeth Shue, Bill Pullman
Directed by: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Other: A Fox Searchlight Pictures release. Rated PG-13 for partial nudity, sexual situations. 121 minutes