Billie Jean is not her lover...

...She’s just a girl that wants to play tennis, but finds it so difficult with all this sexual confusion.

BATTLE OF THE SEXES 

3.5/5 - Above average.

With amazing performances from Emma Stone and Steve Carell, as well as, of course, the entire rest of the cast, it was really difficult to decide how I felt about this film. I went into it hoping for it to be as entertaining as the trailer had made it seem (obviously that is the idea of a trailer but you get what I mean). And it was just that... for about half of the film.

So in case you are unfamiliar with the story, which if you’re reading this then I would assume you at least know a bit about the story, or at least have seen the trailer, here is a brief summary:

We find ourselves transported back to the early 70’s with a young Billie Jean King who is numero uno, the best female tennis player who has ever lived. This isn’t enough however, as men still refuse to believe that women can be equals, highlighted by the incredible difference between the male and female prize money. Enter Sarah Silverman, who plays my favourite character in the whole film Gladys Heldman. Heldman helps gather a selection of fellow female tennis players to create their own touring tournament to stick it to the men.

On top of that we have Bobby Riggs, played by Steve Carell, who is the dramatic gambling addict that can’t help but scheme up new ways to hustle people, all the while just wanting to be back in that spotlight. This leads to Riggs’ lightbulb idea of challenging the female number one (currently Margaret Court due to the absence of ability of King, a story for later on) to prove that men are superior.

After Court’s dreadful loss to Riggs, King realises that it is unfortunately up to her to take on Riggs to save the plight of the female’s attempt to prove they are equal. Throughout all of this, King is battling with her sexuality, supposedly happily married but with intense feelings towards her hairdresser Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough). This conflict in emotion is what drains her ability to play which sets off this series of events, finalising in the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ (omg he used the film title).

My thoughts are fairly simple, I enjoyed most of it, but there was about a third of the film that just completely slowed the whole thing down. I hate to say it but unfortunately the whole back story about King’s struggle with her sexuality dragged on for too long. I went to watch a film about the battle between a pig of a man and a humble woman, but instead I found myself half watching a film about a secret love triangle. Every scene with Riggs seemed so exciting, even when he was just sitting down talking to his wife, which made it even harder for me when they returned to King.

I do suggest checking this film out as it is a good film, it was always going to be with the directors of ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ on board. I would mention though that it really helps if you like tennis, as there is actual tennis in this film. So if tennis bores the hell out of you then maybe take a pass on this one.

At the end of the day, this is just one opinion.

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