Films/DVD Asylum

Battle of the Sexes - a disappointment

69.86.175.48

This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

I try not to beat my chest here so I don't annoy others, and if someone saw "Battle of the Sexes" please chime in - I would appreciate your perspective. Me? I was annoyed by the film.

Like most bio-pics, instead of focusing on the details concerning the historical significance of the "battle of the sexes", we spend 1/3 of the film on the romantic relationships. This focus on relationships limited the film time to historic superficialities that I already knew.

I'm not oblivious that many same sex/lesbian relationships might be perceived and presented as "hot strippers gettin' down" and this film wanted to present the adversity, fear and child -like innocence woman-folk might experience crossing the lesbian line. I found the same sex relationship focus tedious, a bit retarded and over-glorified. Don't get me wrong, I'm as "left" as the next guy ... but certainly, too much time was spent on romantic intimacy. I found myself impatiently waiting for Steve Carell, who was fantastic as Bobby Riggs (who won me over in The Big Short)... but there was far too little screen time left for Riggs/Carell.

There were a few terrific scenes - when Riggs tries to rekindle his marriage - the scene where King explains to Bill Pullman "that he doesn't like woman" and the film successfully conveys the cultural importance of the event -but overall I found the peripheral characters too obvious, bordering on parody.

And was Riggs husband really such a pussy? Kneeling at the shrine of the wants and needs of Billie Jean King? He seemed more unbalanced then a devoted partner in "love", or dedicated to "friendship".

Have a great day - Jim

Follow Ups: