Timely and engaging, Battle Of The Sexes is one of those rare sports films, where you don’t have to like or even know anything about the sport to be both charmed and entertained by what’s on screen. It’s also easy to be more than a little outraged by how bad the chauvinism was then and how little has really changed today.
Emma Stone is quickly becoming the Meryl of her time and she is consistently outstanding in this and pretty much every film she stars in as of late. Steve Carell is also perfectly cast as the buffoonish Bobby Riggs. Using the actual audio from the original match (recorded back in 1973) really does show how ingrained the male chauvinism was at that time.
The film plays out like a time capsule of the day and the attention to seventies detail is outstanding. Even including the old style film company logo at the start of the film. It’s these little details that really help to sell the era. As always with works of this ilk, the song selection is spot on and does a more than adequate job of setting the scene.
It’s something that a sports match that took place over forty years ago is so relevant in tone and statement to the events of today. You can watch this film and relate to it just as entertainment or see it as social statement and be more than outraged.
Rob Hudson
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