Any movie with Emma Stone is worth seeing and combined with Steve Carell, this one is a winner. There are no spoilers here because we all know how the tennis match ends, but with warmth and humor and heart, this is a very good story and a very good movie.
This could have been a social commentary about the women's movement, freedom, personal rights, men vs women, all major cultural issues of that time. (And major issues still today.) While the commentary is there, it isn't the driving force. Instead, the force is the authenticity of the people involved in that commentary. Billy Jean King wanted equal pay, equal acknowledgement of women playing first class tennis. Bobby Riggs wanted women to go back to the kitchen and leave tennis to men. Both had great drive, just for different things. This movie shows the difference in their characters but also illustrates that you can be true to your beliefs even if those beliefs are unjustified.
The minor players are excellent: Bill Pullman as even more of a chauvinist pig than Bobby Riggs, Sarah Silverman as the organizer of King's quest, Elizabeth Shue as a long-suffering wife, and more. But the movie is carried, of course, by Emma Stone and Steve Carell, and they carry it so well.
Two thumbs up. As mentioned before, there is great heart and kindness in this movie, which sounds odd when paired with the subject of men vs women, but it is one of the things that makes this movie work. There is no emotional manipulation, just a lot of sincerity. When you walk out of the theater, if you don't think "that was a really good movie" let me know. I will refund your price of admission.
No comments:
Post a Comment