Seven months ago, MGM Studios decided to push back the release of its upcoming film called Challengers starring Zendaya.

At the height of the actors and writers strike the studio thought that it would be a wise move to push the release back to make sure that it can maximize its release under the guise that people will want to see a film where Zendaya has an on-screen threesome with two guys not named Tom Holland.

I hate to break it to you but if you are racing to the theaters thinking that you’re going to see a steamy sex scene with a former Disney Channel star you are mistaken. 

There are so many problems with the film the decision to spend $55 million on this endeavor may still not be in the top five. What do you get when you take Three unlikable characters and put them in a love triangle for 2 hours and 10 minutes where there is no one to identify with unless you are human garbage,  you get a film called Challengers.

The movie is about two best friends Patrick and Art Who find themselves infatuated with a hot New Rising Star in the world of tennis named Tashi Duncan (Zendaya). Over the next few years, the two boys begin to dissolve their friendship over who gets to bag the girl who seems more interested in vicariously living through their tennis careers after her fall short of an injury.

 As the film jumps ahead between the present and the past we see that Art has married Tashi and become a world champion tennis player who is suffering the myth of a losing streak. On the flip side, Patrick’s life has fallen apart and decides to join a tournament in New Rochelle under which the guy said he could win $7,000 and find a place to sleep for the night.

 It’s not until the day of the tournament that Patrick realizes that he will be linked up against his old friend Art who was using the tournament to rebound from his string of defeats.  The film  proceeds to tell a story of three self-absorbed individuals who are all in a race to figure out who is the biggest scumbag in the room.

Modern Hollywood has become so detached from reality that they don’t even know what genuine human emotions and behaviors are anymore. This result has caused the industry to become unable to write multiple film genres that require a deep human connection between the characters and the audience. Challenger is a perfect example of why the romance genre is dead.

The film is about three characters who don’t care about one another but use each other to Fill the void of their selfish desires. The film stars a bunch of Stanford liberals such as Tashi Duncan who is a sociopath Who cares about using those around her to satisfy her ego.  the two men are no better,  the character of Patrick is a narcissist who sees people to achieve the next objective which is why he is left with no one willing to talk to him,  and the only person who cares about anyone Art who is portrayed as a simp in his marriage to Tashi Who he is only with because he sabotaged Patrick’s relationship in the process.

The film tells you from the jump that this movie is about morally irredeemable characters and then expects you to be invested for 131 minutes of runtime. For those of you who just want to see Steamy sex scenes,  I’m afraid you have bought into a bait and switch.  The core of this movie is not about Zendaya’s relationship with the two boys; however, it is a story of the two boys’ relationship with each other.  The film is filled with homosexual undertones and a lot of male nudity To satisfy an audience that can only be described as gay fans of Degrassi. 

The film only gets worse from there,  the story jumps all over the place with constant flashbacks to various periods.  one minute the movie is taking place in the present time and in the very next scene the movie abruptly shifts to 13 years in the past before jumping back to the present day only to go back 7 years in the past to the point where it feels like you’re watching a movie that was cut and paste in the wrong order. 

 There is nothing romantic about this film that makes Hallmark movies Look like the gold standard when it comes to Modern Romance.  As far as the drama of this movie goes,  this movie is a teenage Drama film that is made for and starring 30-year-old adults. 

The chemistry of this film is so eye-rolling that there were a notable number of people asking themselves in the theater what am I watching right now.  But don’t let that excite you. This film is not so bad that it’s good, it’s so bad that it makes you question why you continue to watch movies in 2024.

Challengers is a cinematic black pill That will make you wonder if it’s even possible to go back to the world of films that we created even 10 years ago. 

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