Meanwhile, famed tennis player Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) is facing plenty of problems of his own, though instead of encountering difficulties centered around societal discrimination surrounding his gender, all of his problems stem from his inability to give up gambling. His need for a career comeback leads him to making a deal to Billie Jean King to have the two of them face off in a tennis match that would be a publicity slam-dunk guaranteed to draw in millions of viewers. At first King refuses on the grounds of not wanting to be a publicity prop, but when she see's how Riggs is using this match as a chance to prove that men are inherently better at tennis than women, well, she knows she can't stand idly by. Time to play some tennis folks.
Battle Of The Sexes, the newest film from directorial duo Johnathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, isn't a surprising movie in certain key aspects. For instance, its camerawork isn't shoddy by any means, but it isn't distinctively imaginative or notable and the same can be said for its serviceable but not thoroughly unique approach to its various characters 1970's-era wardrobe in its costume design. However, there is a core facet of this film that totally took me by surprise and that lifts the whole production up; Battle Of The Sexes fully embraces Billie Jean King's sexuality. We've had a bunch of big American biopics over the years about real LGBTQA individuals that glossed over or minimized their sexuality and I expected the same thing to happen here. Instead, Billie Jean King's discovery of her Lesbian orientation is treated with surprising care and depth and as an opportunity to further show just how much societal restraints were stifling Billie Jean King as a person.
That plotline is handled with deft care in Simon Beaufoy's screenplay that is accompanied by a similarly thoughtfully crafted performance from Emma Stone. There's been a recurring wry wit in a number of Stone's past performances in the likes of Easy A, Aloha and The Croods, but she's shown to be plenty capable of eschewing that recurring trait when the role calls for it and she most certainly does that her with her performance of Billie Jean King. Stone portrays this real-life individual with a casual confidence in more public confrontations (such as her interactions with a sexist superior played by Bill Pullman) that she portrays with such a natural quality that it makes her depiction of King being vulnerable in certain private moments all the more impactful.
It's a great performance from Emma Stone that renders this depiction of Billie Jean King as a person and not as just a one-note celebrity impression. Steve Carell as Bobby Riggs is stuck with a more one-dimensionally drawn persona which feels like an intentional choice to serve up cosmic karma towards the way Riggs made himself a caricature thriving on sexism in the public eye, but one can't help but wish all the screentime devoted to him at least went somewhere more substantive, especially since his plotline kind of just sputters out. At least the always reliable Steve Carell fares well in this role as he portrays an egotistical huckster whose more of a sexist buffoon like Zapp Branigan than a charming trickster like Harold Hill.
But even if Riggs and his storyline feel undercooked, at least Battle Of The Sexes has the decency to be more insightful with the rest of its plot as it delves into Billie Jean King's internal struggles regarding being herself, both as a woman and a lesbian, in a world where neither of those things are looked on fondly. Is the retelling of this tale boilerplate in execution in some key respects? Sure, yeah. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have its more bold traits and also isn't mostly enjoyable to watch, especially when that climactic tennis duel between Riggs and King goes down. A final moment shared between King and a character played by Alan Cumming is similarly more impactful than expected and helps end Battle Of The Sexes on an appropriately contemplative note.
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