Challengers Review: Every Thought We Had About the Zendaya Tennis Movie
Glamour’s senior west coast editor Jessica Radloff said it first: Challengers is set to be the most divisive film of the year.
That’s certainly the case here in the office. Some staffers loved it (hi, hello), while others were disappointed or worse—bored. However, as the Luca Guadagnino-directed film enters its second week at the box office, one thing is for sure: Glamour editors can’t stop talking about the tennis film.
Here, six Glamour staffers discuss their feelings on the film, which stars Zendaya as former tennis prodigy Tashi Duncan, Mike Faist as her try-hard husband Art Donaldson, and Josh O’Connor as washed-up pro Patrick Zweig. The three leads are the anchors in a very convoluted, very sweaty love triangle, which spans decades.
Over the course of our conversation, transcribed below, we touched on all the important topics, like which boy we would choose if faced with the decision, whether dialogue is really all that important in a film scored by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and what really happened in the Challengers ending.
Stephanie McNeal, senior editor: Can I ask a question just to start off? I want to know—without knowing how people felt about the movie—which boy they like.
Sam Reed, senior entertainment editor: Oh, Josh O’Connor, 100%.
SM: Oh my God. I was such a Mike Faist girl. It’s not even funny.
Jake Smith, commerce editor: I agree with you.
Anna Moeslein, deputy editor: I think it’s a fuck, marry, kill [situation]. You fuck Josh O’Connor and marry Mike, right?
Ariana Yaptangco, senior beauty editor: That’s what she did ultimately.
SR: Wow. That really is what she did.
JS: She killed tennis.
AM: I mean, Josh O’Connor is not a…
SR: Sex symbol?
AM: Are we talking about the actors or the characters?
SR: We’re talking about the characters.
AM: Okay. His character is definitely not sustainable [for a relationship.]
JS: He’s a fling. He’s so hot though.
AM: He should always play scum bag.
AY: I know. He’s so good.
JS: He’s sleeze. Can we talk about how Mike Faist is American and how weird that is?
SR: Mike Faist is American?
SM: Oh yeah. He’s a theater guy. He originated the role of Connor in Dear Evan Hansen.
JS: Josh O’Connor, sure. He’s a British man, but Mike Faist looks so European to me.
SR: In my head I was like, wow, they’re doing okay with these American accents.
JS: My mind was blown.
Anastasia Sanger, senior manager, social creative development: I was just surprised he wasn’t actually a redhead.
AY: He was in West Side Story.
SM: My truth is that I like a skinny guy.
SR: They’re both skinny.
SM: No, but I like a skinny soft boy. Every guy I’ve ever dated is like that.
SR: I like a skinny soft boy too, but there’s something about the hair on the chest.
AM: I’m a golden retriever boyfriend kind of girl, so that’s why Mike Faist is ultimately the one.
SR: He’s just too blonde.
AM: You’re going off looks, I’m going off of personality.
SR: Drag me, Anna.
SM: I’m going off of life. I’ll be like, oh, I really like this super hot guy. And then in real life, I’m dating guys who weigh 120 pounds. That’s my truth.
JS: I feel like I’d be in a similar boat to Zendaya where Josh O’Connor would throw me into a spiral for a week and then you’d go right back to Mike Faist.
SM: But does she actually love him?
JS: No, she loves tennis.
AM: It’s a tale as old as time. It’s Taylor Swift and Matty Healy and Joe Alwyn.
SR: Oh, I said it was Aiden and Mr. Big.
AM: Yes. It’s the Aiden and Mr. Big conundrum. Straight women have been dealing with this for centuries.
SR: You know what I’m realizing is I was less engaged with the story and more thinking about how hot I found Josh O’Connor.
AY: My biggest thing about the movie was that I just felt like…
AM: It’s too PG-13.
AY: I just wish they would’ve gone for it. I thought it was a little bland. They marketed it with “S&M” by Rihanna and there was no “na na nah, come on.”
AM: Give us the threesome! Don’t tease the threesome and then not deliver.
AY: The boys are so compelling. I thought the two guys were so great and Zendaya took a bit of a backseat to them in the movie.
SM: Well, it’s definitely their movie.
AY: But it’s her movie! It was marketed [as her movie]. That’s why I didn’t like it, because she’s the star. This is Zendaya’s movie, but she takes a backseat to the two guys. I feel like the marketing was one way, and then the film was something different. I’ve been trying to reconcile the two a little bit.
SR: You had certain expectations.
AY: I thought I was going into a specific movie and then I got a different movie. So I don’t know if that’s maybe me being confused.
AM: I wanted it to be like a nineties R-rating
AY: They do the whole rom-com thing where they don’t show the hardcore sex, but it’s insinuated that they have sex. But on a movie that’s marketed so heavily about the sex, there was no sex.
SR: I heard there was an earlier test cut of this that had [full frontal] in the sauna scene.
JS: I had enough nudity, to be honest. I was set.
Niko Tavernise
SM: I just think that it’s a movie about the two guys, and I mean this non-derogatorily for maybe the first time in my life, but you can tell it’s written by a man. It’s a movie about a male friendship. So it didn’t bother me. I mean, yeah, obviously they’re going to market Zendaya because she’s the biggest actress ever.
AM: If it’s about the two guys, at least make it more gay.
SM: I thought it was pretty gay.
SR: It was very homoerotic.
JS: I think it’s low-key so gay. The two guys make out to Blood Orange on the radio—that’s pretty gay, and the whole movie, instead of showing hot, sweaty sex, it’s more about the yearning of it all, which is gay. And so I think that it might low-key have been [gay enough]. There’s dicks out in the steam room, so yeah.
AS: At the screening I was at with the writer Q&A afterwards, [Justin Kuritzkes] was saying how after he shared the initial draft that didn’t have the two kissing with Luca, Luca was like, “It’s a love triangle. All sides should touch.” And [Kuritzkes] is like, “Yeah, their lives are woven together.” Luca’s like, no. “All sides should touch.”
SR: Literally.
AS: I think it was them working together, and Luca probably wanted more [physical intimacy].
SM: Yeah, I looked up the screenplay after I watched it and noticed that the gay kissing was not in it.
AS: I also wonder if [the lack of gay intimacy] is because the writer himself isn’t gay. Because he’s married to [Past Lives screenwriter] Celine Song, famously.
SR: Wait, I was just talking about this with my friends, how in that marriage it seems like they love the idea of a third. Between Past Lives and this…
SM: He’s, I think, annoyed about it. He says he won’t talk about her at all interviews.
JS: Then don’t write two threesome movies. You know what I mean? Or two live triangle movies.
AS: I loved Past Lives.
AM: That’s a good movie.
SR: Did anyone else notice, in the very beginning, the little tray of peaches on the table?
JS: Yes! My boyfriend and I were both like, HAHAHA.
SR: I was hooting. I was like, the peaches!!
JS: But yeah, if you want your big homoeroticism from Luca Guadagnino, go watch Call Me By Your Name.
SR: Also, in that opening scene, I was like, wow, it really just sounds like the Wii Tennis.
AM: I loved the music.
SR: It would’ve been such a different movie if they didn’t have the [makes bass sounds] underscoring every scene to the point where it was almost like your brain is rattling around in your head.
JS: I think it was so important to have the music because it made straight dramatic scenes feel like a game or just more propulsive, and I really appreciated that for a sports movie.
SM: I read that the music cut so dramatically because it was supposed to feel like a game of tennis—it’s really intense, and then they stop.
JS: That worked for me. I heard people complaining that it was too loud.
AY: It was really loud! I was like, my ears!
AS: When you have Trent Reznor, you’ve got to use him.
SR: It was almost competing with the dialogue at certain points.
JS: Was that intentional, where it was like the dialogue itself isn’t important, but it’s the emotion/the action of it?
AY: The dialogue’s not important.
AM: To be fair, it wasn’t the most riveting dialogue.
SR: Did anyone notice that Zendaya was carrying the Loewe bag?
JS: I didn’t notice that, but I did notice her bling.
AS: I was like, that’s a $10,000 bracelet.
SR: The Cartier one?
AS: Yeah.
SR: Right next to her “Lilly” friendship bracelet for her daughter.
JS: And she had the Augustinus Bader.
AY: She held it up to the camera! And then they show her putting it on. I was like, huh.
JS: I love that it was alongside, like, Dunkin’ Donuts though. That felt so accurate.
SR: Uniqlo! Adidas, Applebee’s, Nike, Champion. On—the shoe brand. There were so many.
JS: So many! But it felt real. It felt like real life, which I appreciated.
SM: I think [Guadagnino] was trying to make a commentary [on class]. I loved the disconnect, the difference between Mike Faist and then Josh O’Connor looking all poor.
SR: His outfit for the final game being plaid shorts that men used to wear in 2005, but it was supposed to be set in 2019, was so good. Also, he was rich. That was an interesting twist. His family was rich.
JS: That was interesting. They didn’t really dive into it a ton, but there’s a reason that Zendaya has hitched herself to the two boys. They’re her family’s source of income, and they talked about it a little bit with the line, “I take such good care of my little white boys.” I thought that was interesting. There was a real racial and class dynamic at play that was only hinted at.
SR: It was subtle. Can we talk about the banana? And also, the churro scene. The phallic imagery— and that was the same scene where they were sitting on the stools. I died at the stool pull. I actually hooted at the screen when he pulled the stool closer to him, the choreography. I really want to know the story behind that.
AY: I wanted them to kiss. Why are you guys feeding each other? Just kiss!
AM: I’m usually a show, don’t tell [person], but I wanted them to tell more with this movie.
SM: That’s because you’re so deep in ACOTAR. You’re like, give me more.
AS: We’re all perverts. We wanted more.
AM: I don’t get to go out to the movies very often now, so I think my expectations were, you’ve got to deliver. I’m putting my time and money into this.
SR: I have to say, I wasn’t disappointed when I was watching it. There was so many thirsty, sweaty slow-mo scenes.
JS: So much sweat.
AY: I thought the film was entirely too long though.
SR: Really?
AM: Oh my God, way too long. They could have cut 20 minutes easily. But every movie that comes out these days is 20 minutes too long.
JS: I luxuriated.
SR: Me too!
AY: I thought a lot of the slow-mo was, to me, not necessary. It was a little…
SR: Too indulgent?
AY: Yeah.
SR: Those scenes were for me.
JS: The one scene that was gratuitously long was the “I Fucked Your Wife” scene. But that was fun.
SR: I loved it. Can we talk about the T-shirts? Did you guys notice that when they were at Stanford, Patrick arrived wearing a white T-shirt and after they almost slept together, Zendaya put it on and he put on her, “I Told Ya” shirt?
AM: I noticed that she was wearing the white T-shirt later.
JS: There was a button-down that they swapped too.
AM: Isn’t that what she wears to go fuck him?
SR: Yep. It’s the same white T-shirt.
JS: And then of course, the “I Told Ya” shirt.
AM: Which, excellent job, Zendaya, on the promo tour. She wore it on the streets.
JS: And you can buy it at Loewe for $300.
SR: Get that bag, Jonathan Anderson. I didn’t know he did the costumes until later than I should have.
JS: It is funny. Of course she’s carrying a Loewe bag.
AM: I think that Zendaya’s strongest acting in the movie was the college years portion. I thought that was the most effective. I had trouble believing her as a mom in the older scenes.
AY: I was about to say, did you guys buy her as a mom?
SM: No! And I don’t know why because she’s almost 30.
AM: She has a baby face a little bit or maybe it’s the Euphoria of it all, but I was very conscious that it was Zendaya and not the character.
AY: I don’t even think that it was a hair and makeup problem because she did look a lot older, which I thought was amazing.
AM: The styling was good.
JS: That was one of the things that I saw a lot of people talking about in a positive way—the fact that they didn’t use any freaky CGI to age them. Instead, they just went with a real hair and makeup approach. They did look older,
AM: I thought the teen and the college versions of her character were really effective.
AY: I just don’t know if I can separate Zendaya from the actress I see on screen who’s a mother. I just see Zendaya, not a mom.
AM: She is such a personality. Whereas the guys…I’m not following Josh O’Connor’s every move, so he can be the character more.
SM: But also, they didn’t really develop her as a mom
AM: The daughter’s always just off with grandma.
AY: Did you guys know she had a daughter going into the movie? I was like, whoa, she’s got a daughter!?
SR: I think it’s Patrick’s baby because remember, it was 13 years ago to Stanford, and then it was eight years ago to Atlanta, so that means the daughter would be about eight. I think the daughter might be Patrick’s baby.
SM: Was the daughter eight?
SR: I don’t know. I couldn’t tell. I’m not good with ages.
JS: She had about one minute of screen time, if that. Who knows?
SM: I wanted to know about Zendaya’s family life. Her mom seems nice, but clearly all athletes on that level have a screw loose. But what’s her story? Why is she so weird and obsessed with tennis?
SR: I think she’s just really competitive. That’s what I took from it. She wants to be the best, whether she’s coaching her husband or whether she’s coaching Patrick. It might be a thing where you have athletes who, when they are no longer playing their sport, they kind of lose their identity, lose their sense of purpose, and it feels to me like she’s chasing that because she never got her shot.
SM: Yeah, definitely.
SR: I don’t think she knows how to be a functioning human [without tennis]. She doesn’t know how to view herself, if not the best at tennis. Also, great line “at 31, you have a better shot with a handgun in your mouth.” I thought that was hilarious.
JS: And then she turns around and fucks him that night. Can I add one more piece of evidence to the gay theory—that it was gay enough? Hailey Benton Gates plays the Tinder girl that he meets in the hotel, and she’s a gay icon. She’s a stylist. She’s a woman about town. She’s a model and all that.
SR: I did think they had her styled kind of funny for a Tinder date.
SM: Super weird.
JS: Can we talk about the styling in the movie? Because those Chanel shoes.
SR: Oh my god, they were so obvious.
JS: I know why they had to be there, but…
SR: It was because she’s in her rich bitch era but doesn’t necessarily know how to dress.
SM: She’s doing quiet luxury, kind of.
SR: She can afford it but she doesn’t have style. It was a little much.
JS: To me it was offensive. Sorry, Chanel. I did see it and know who this character is, so I appreciated that.
SR: It goes with her hair.
SM: I really didn’t like her hair at all.
SR: The Bob?
JS: I thought the bob was cute.
SM: I liked her hair when she was post-college, first making out with Art.
SR: Kind of like swingy and shoulder-length.
SM: Yeah.
SR: Also…Does he have an eight pack in the sauna scene?
JS: Oh, I think so.
SR: It was wild.
SM: Whose boy?
SR: Patrick.
SM: He’s just like…you know his bathroom is so dirty.
SR: Like him as a character?
SM: Yeah. You know what I mean? Like you would sleep over at his house and you would get up to pee in the middle of the night, and there’d be no toilet paper.
AS: And pubes.
SR: Oh my God.
AM: Sam’s like “mmm.”
AS: How do you think they did the wind? I’ve been thinking about it for so long. That’s a lot of fans.
JS: There were a lot of flyers or newspapers or something blowing around New Rochelle that night.
SR: I was picturing big fans and they’re just throwing trash in front of it. Was that filmed in a studio?
JS: It must have been. It definitely had to have been a studio. It was certainly a moment where it was like, yeah, by the way, this is a movie. There will be a weather event to mark a change. It felt a little on the nose for me.
SM: I liked that. You could hear how it sounded like real wind sounds.
Niko Tavernise / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures
JS: I will say, I have not been a two-timer, but if I were, I would also pretend that my sneaky link was my Uber driver. I think that is so funny that she did that.
SR: Did we notice that there was a Spanish language song? I double checked on the soundtrack today and there was also an Italian song, which was I thought was a nice touch from Luca.
JS: I will say this. If I became involved with those two in any way, I would also only be obsessed with ’em for the rest of my life. Like I understand why they would all stay in each other’s orbit. I felt bad for them that they couldn’t break out of it, but they’re all so beautiful.
SM: I don’ t really get why Art and Patrick stopped being friends. I guess just because loyalty to her?
SR: I think it was because he went to Stanford and did the more traditional route, and Patrick just went straight to the pros, and he was no longer as connected. I assumed it was a growing apart. Art is now dating his ex, and he’s touring and he’s not doing that well, professionally…
JS: They’re also not going to talk about their feelings, I bet. After Art was like, “Get the fuck out of the [locker] room” when and Zendaya was hurt—I believe that was the end of it.
SM: Poor boys, they just need to be friends.
JS: Or more.
SM: One thing I did pick up on reading the script was Patrick was supposed to be a very talented player with no discipline, and then Art was supposed to be like, he puts the work in and he’s very traditionally good, but he doesn’t have that certain spark.
SR: I could see why Zendaya would be attracted to Patrick, because she also seemed very regimented. When he was like, “oh, I smoke,” and she was like, “I don’t smoke.” She probably sees a lot of herself in Art, but wants to be more like Patrick.
AM: She’s probably envious of Patrick’s natural abilities.
SR: Thoughts on the ending?
JS: Oh, I think that was their threesome and I loved it.
SR: Throuple!!
SM: They should just let [Patrick] move in. He can raise Lilly.
JS: I appreciate that they all got what they needed. They’re all happy. The boys are reunited. She gets to watch a great game of tennis. It’s perfect.
SR: Art won, right? Art wins because he drops his racket, but Patrick’s happy because he is like, oh, I get my bestie back and also I got to rub in his face that I fucked his wife.
JS: Isn’t it true that he didn’t win though?
AY: No. Art won. It was the winning serve, and then they collide.
AS: I think people aren’t sure whether it counts. He touches the net.
SR: Ooh, I don’t know the rules of tennis well enough!
SM: The director said he wanted it to be ambiguous on purpose.
JS: It doesn’t matter who wins. Neither one will ever be enough for Zendaya. She needs both.
SR: They embrace to become the perfect man for her.
JS: It’s true. They could just combine into that with a bit of therapy too.
