Battle of the Sexes has little idea what it wants to be. So it becomes an uninvolved and superficial story about the exhibition tennis match between Billie Jean King against Bobby Riggs.
Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) unhappy that the US Tennis Association will be awarding female tournament winners one eighth of prize money given to the male winners. King helps form an alternative women's circuit with a small band of women tennis players.
King who is married also falls for a hairdresser Marilyn (Andrea Riseborough) and tries to keep her lesbian affair secret.
Bobby Riggs (Steve Carrell) is a champion tennis player from another era. He is an inveterate gambler and self promoter. The veteran Riggs eyes an opportunity get a bit of the limelight by challenging King to a men versus women tennis match.
King eventually accepts the challenge to bring dignity to women's tennis. For Riggs it all about fun and money. He wants to bring back show into chauvinism.
Billie Jean King was a bit before my time. I only became aware of her when her former lover outed her publicly. It is also interesting that King has always been a big defender of Bobby Riggs. They had a friendship until he died. It indicates that the real life Battle of the Sexes was more self promotion for the both of them.
King is portrayed almost as a saint for women's equality. Riggs is just a token villain, secondary to organiser Jack Kramer. The film is really a light biopic of Billie Jean King and her struggles relating to fighting chauvinism in tennis, fight for equal prize money and her lesbianism. The actual match is a distant second.
Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) unhappy that the US Tennis Association will be awarding female tournament winners one eighth of prize money given to the male winners. King helps form an alternative women's circuit with a small band of women tennis players.
King who is married also falls for a hairdresser Marilyn (Andrea Riseborough) and tries to keep her lesbian affair secret.
Bobby Riggs (Steve Carrell) is a champion tennis player from another era. He is an inveterate gambler and self promoter. The veteran Riggs eyes an opportunity get a bit of the limelight by challenging King to a men versus women tennis match.
King eventually accepts the challenge to bring dignity to women's tennis. For Riggs it all about fun and money. He wants to bring back show into chauvinism.
Billie Jean King was a bit before my time. I only became aware of her when her former lover outed her publicly. It is also interesting that King has always been a big defender of Bobby Riggs. They had a friendship until he died. It indicates that the real life Battle of the Sexes was more self promotion for the both of them.
King is portrayed almost as a saint for women's equality. Riggs is just a token villain, secondary to organiser Jack Kramer. The film is really a light biopic of Billie Jean King and her struggles relating to fighting chauvinism in tennis, fight for equal prize money and her lesbianism. The actual match is a distant second.