Battle of the Sexes

Battle of the Sexes plays out like 2/3rds of a great movie paired with 1/3rd of Steve Carrel's SNL skits. The plot revolves around Emma Stone as Billie Jean King, a 29-year-old tennis champion who becomes fed up with being offered paltry prize money roughly a tenth of what her male peers earn. Teaming up with editor Gladys Heldman, King establishes her own women-only tournament. Aiming to raise the profile of women's athletics and make the tennis more accessible to the general public King works tirelessly, at great risk to her career. Only becoming distracted when a flirtation with hairdresser Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough) awakens previously unknown feelings in her.

Meanwhile Carrell's Bobby Riggs is...doing other stuff. Namely getting kicked out by his wife after his gambling addiction ticks her off too many times. Seeing opportunity in King's noble cause, Bobby challenges her to an exhibition match to, in essence, prove men's tennis as superior. He treats the entire thing like a sideshow act; training in goofy costumes, posing nude and making attention-grabbing remarks.

Carrell gives it his best. As the Faris's previous film Little Miss Sunshine proved, the former SNL-star is a deft hand at balancing comedy with drama. In Riggs we see a man trying relentlessly to embody the hustler persona he's built for himself, forever struggling to conceal his deep melancholy. It's good stuff, it's just so much less interesting than King's storyline. Which is a shame because they're given roughly the same amount of screen time. As if there's some sort of parity between Riggs' huckster antics and King's cause. Instead the obviously richer, more emotive storyline is undercut in service of cheap jokes. Yes, all evidence suggests that this is accurate of Bobby Riggs' character but is it necessary?

The real story of Battle of the Sexes is one of the systemic sexism within professional tennis, the casual disregard for female players held by the male establishment. From the ease at which Jack Kramer (Bill Pullman) offers meager tournament payouts for women champions to the condescension of real-life sports journalist Howard Coswell draping his arm around co-commentator Rosie Casals during a live broadcast. These are the meat and potatoes of the film while Riggs' antics are clearly the dessert. Having the two so drastically separated though does a disservice to such an otherwise rich story.