Battle of the Sexes

bnt

Out in September, the true story of the ultra-hyped tennis match between champions Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell), and the media circus surrounding it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0FxwbPTjnA

"I'm putting the Show back in to Chauvinism!" :pac:

gmisk

I had tickets to preview of this yesterday and totally forgot about it! Trailer looks good as well

delbertgrady

I thought it was excellent. The initial production stills suggested that they had got the casting perfect, and this is certainly the case. Carell was the obvious choice, from a physical perspective, Emma Stone perhaps less so, but she has been transformed brilliantly and both are excellent.
The trailer showcases the more anarchic side of Bobby Riggs, but Carell's performance is more bittersweet. There's a poignancy to the Riggs story that is touched on, but the main narrative is concerned with Billie Jean King, and her professional and emotional struggles. Emma Stone is superb, managing to embody King with a performance of subtle mannerisms that mimic her perfectly, arguably a more difficult task than Carell's, since King herself is not a larger than life personality.
Soundtrack choices (Apollo 100's immortal Joy, Elton John and George Harrison), production design and supporting cast (especially Andrea Riseborough and Alan Cumming) all add to it, though some characters are a little two-dimensional, especially Bill Pullman's cartoon villain, Jack Kramer.
I had been looking forward to it since it was announced, and I was not disappointed.

Just back.

It was good. Emma Stone and Steve Carrel were near picture perfect casting. The soundtrack was good. Wasn't a tonne of laughs, but still decent enough.

However -- the love triangle/LGBT aspect seemed more like it was put there for Oscar bait more than anything else. They mentioned the disparity of pay between men and women, especially in the athletics world. I felt that this would have been a far more important message. In the movie there was a line similar to "I'm a tennis player who happens to be female". In this instance, it felt like she should have been a tennis player who happened to be gay.

The pay disparity would have been far more fitting and timely message.

gmisk

I thought it was a lot of fun.
Acting was good and it looked fantastic.
I suppose it had to cover the LGBT part to give you some context with regards the private turmoil, I would have possible liked to see a bit more Bobby Riggs he seemed like a real character!

I didnt think Margaret Court will be to fond of her depiction on screen.....but looked her up and realised she is a bigotted wagon in real life as well

Harry Palmr

Love the 70s style trailer.

cailinoBAC

Loved it. But myself and my husband were the only people at our showing, so might not be in cinema too long...

Outlaw Pete

Decent enough film to watch but a lot of aspects of the story I felt weren't sufficiently, or honestly, dealt with. Would have preferred a longer film that fleshed out those elements of the two main protagonists' lives. In truth I think I've always longer for a Bobby Riggs biopic and felt a little cheated with this offering.

Couple of gripes....

The argument between Silverman's character, Billie Jean and Pullman's character at the start of the film is central to the story and you'd expect them to stick to the facts but instead they exaggerate right from the get-go and tell us that Women were only being paid 12.5% what the men were getting for winning their respective titles. The truth is the winner of the US Open and Wimbledon were getting 40% of the pay. Many would say that anything less than an equal amount was an injustice , and perhaps rightly so but surely if the story was felt worth making in the first place then sticking to the facts is the way to go. Exaggerating in a clear attempt to get the audience on the side makes me wonder which other aspects of the story was the truth bent with. Didn't Pullman's character deserve to be pulled from the commentary slot of the match? Hard to know, it's one aspect of the story I was unaware of but sure portrays Billie as being justified.

Secondly, and perhaps more to do with my having wished a biopic on Riggs had been made.... it never dealt with the long rumoured story that Bobby had thrown the match. Anyone that has ever watched the clips of him in it, wearing the jacket, then making a big thing of a sore hand, despite having slaughtered Margret Court a couple of months before, could hardly think anything else but that he threw that match.

Article and video with some more details on what I've spoilered above.

Crazy how the relationship between Billie and the hairdresser ended up too (which is essentially what outed her).

tunguska

I really enjoyed this, some great scenes. Emma Stone is good but Steve Carrell is epic, He literally is the hustler that was Bobby Riggs. Only Gripe I'd have is the portrayal of Margaret Court as a religious zealot who hates all the other girls on the tour.
Anyway its an entertaining movie and personally I wouldnt mind seeing a battle of the sexes now, say between Pete sampras and serena williams or even Maria Sharapova.

gmisk

tunguska wrote: »

I really enjoyed this, some great scenes. Emma Stone is good but Steve Carrell is epic, He literally is the hustler that was Bobby Riggs. Only Gripe I'd have is the portrayal of Margaret Court as a religious zealot who hates all the other girls on the tour.
Anyway its an entertaining movie and personally I wouldnt mind seeing a battle of the sexes now, say between Pete sampras and serena williams or even Maria Sharapova.

Serena adn Venus Williams did play a man and were hammered
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Sexes_(tennis)#1998:_Karsten_Braasch_vs._the_Williams_sisters

RE: Margaret Court...she seems to be a religious zealot..sooo...

Decuc500

I thought it was enjoyable but a bit corny.

There was no subtlety to the characters. Most of the men were chauvinist dinosaurs and the women young, progressive and sexy.

Emma Stone and Andrea Riseborough were both very good but I didn’t enjoy Carrell’s performance at all.

yerwanthere123

Deleted User wrote: »

Just back.

It was good. Emma Stone and Steve Carrel were near picture perfect casting. The soundtrack was good. Wasn't a tonne of laughs, but still decent enough.

However -- the love triangle/LGBT aspect seemed more like it was put there for Oscar bait more than anything else. They mentioned the disparity of pay between men and women, especially in the athletics world. I felt that this would have been a far more important message. In the movie there was a line similar to "I'm a tennis player who happens to be female". In this instance, it felt like she should have been a tennis player who happened to be gay.

The pay disparity would have been far more fitting and timely message.

They could hardly have ignored it though? It's a huge part of BJK's story.

tunguska wrote: »

I really enjoyed this, some great scenes. Emma Stone is good but Steve Carrell is epic, He literally is the hustler that was Bobby Riggs. Only Gripe I'd have is the portrayal of Margaret Court as a religious zealot who hates all the other girls on the tour.
Anyway its an entertaining movie and personally I wouldnt mind seeing a battle of the sexes now, say between Pete sampras and serena williams or even Maria Sharapova.

That's exactly what she is though? Have you heard anything of what she's had to say about gay people? She's a vile, disgusting human being, and this movie was an extremely kind portrayal of her.



Anyway, I really enjoyed the film. I thought Emma Stone was good but Steve Carrell was terrific.

Spudman_20000

I thought it was only OK. I recall seeing another movie a couple of years ago about this match that I enjoyed a lot more. I'm almost sure it starred Paul Giamatti as Bobby Riggs but I can't find any reference to it on IMDB.

gmisk

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

I thought it was only OK. I recall seeing another movie a couple of years ago about this match that I enjoyed a lot more. I'm almost sure it starred Paul Giamatti as Bobby Riggs but I can't find any reference to it on IMDB.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/elizabeth-banks-paul-giamatti-star-780372
I found this article online but dont know if it got made or broadcast....cant see anything on IMDB either.

Spudman_20000

gmisk wrote: »

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/elizabeth-banks-paul-giamatti-star-780372
I found this article online but dont know if it got made or broadcast....cant see anything on IMDB either.

I think I found the movie I was referencing:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258446/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Dunno how I got confused that Paul Giamatti played Bobby Riggs in it