“Challengers” — Engaging yet eye-rolling fever dream of tennis and eroticism.

Director Luca Guadagnino’s latest, penned by Justin Kuritzkes, is an engaging and yet often eye-rolling mixture of 80s-inspired nostalgia and contemporary storytelling. The ingredients? Mix in a nod to the era’s teen sex comedies (while adding in fluid sexual exploration and male nudity) and then mix in a near-fever dream climax reminiscent of early Pedro Almodóvar films. The result? One ends up with a potent yet somewhat satisfying cocktail that is “Challengers.”

While the film is set in professional tennis and gets almost everything right, it is not really a tennis movie. Yes, it gets some precise details right. Like how years ago at the Cincinnati tournament, the nearby Applebee’s was really the only restaurant to eat at off-site. But in many ways, this story could have been set in professional track, Olympic skating, etc.

Having said that, the actors’ actual tennis playing is very good, which is hard to do and capture on film. That’s aside from the final pivotal match, which ends up in an inevitable tiebreak that turns into something far more erotic and bonkers than anyone could anticipate, except that everyone has their clothes on.

The story follows Tashi (played by an excellent Zendaya), a former tennis prodigy turned coach due to a career-ending injury. She coaches, manages, and is also married to Art (played by Mike Faist) and has turned him from an average college player into a multiple Grand Slam champion.

The trouble is that Art is now in a losing slump. Before the US Open, they enter a Challenger event in New Rochelle, NY, hoping to boost Art’s confidence. There, they run into Patrick (Josh O’Connor), who, despite early promise, now grinds out a meager living on the bottom rungs of the professional tennis ladder.

In flashbacks and the present day, we learn that all three have a turbulent and sordid history.

Art and Patrick were best friends and junior doubles partners many years ago. Then, they meet Tashi, a rising junior star who dates Patrick (for a specific reason). Later, while in college, Tashi splits from the charismatic Patrick (she blames him for the injury she suffers during a match) and reconnects romantically with Art years later. She then coaches Art from mediocrity to world-class greatness.

But neither of them can ever truly shake off Patrick, who keeps insinuating himself into their lives at all the wrong moments, including in New Rochelle, where both men reach the final and play for very high stakes, both professionally and personally.

While Tashi clearly manipulates both men at different times in her excessive drive for tennis excellence, she also reveals her weakness for the lothario Patrick, whom she knows is ultimately no good for her, but she can’t resist him.

The film, after a sluggish middle section that’s often interrupted in dialogue scenes by the often-thumping techno soundtrack (sometimes so loud one can’t hear the actors, and that’s probably on purpose), ascends in the third act as Tashi and Patrick finally reconnect on a literal dark and stormy night before the final.

While Tashi and Patrick are great characters, Art’s character could be more believable.

While I believed him early in the film as a struggling, lovesick second fiddle to Patrick, I never thought for a second that he was now a multiple Grand Slam champion.

That’s not because of the actor, but because the viewer never sees him win these major titles. And if he were such a huge champion, would he truly be second-guessing himself all the time about his career and relationship with Tashi?

And also, what about all the chain-smoking in the movie, especially Patrick’s character? If this film were indeed set in the 80s, a time when tennis pros did enjoy a puff or two now and then, it would be plausible. It doesn’t ring true in this modern-day film.

Let’s discuss the movie’s ending, where the final rally between Art and Patrick on the court has them both dripping in sweat and running everywhere.

The camera switches from multiple POVs, including from under the court, as both men finally collide in a cathartic embrace/grapple/collision. At the same time, Tashi, from the sidelines, screams her head off in ecstasy? fear? delight? Have they all found a final resolution? Or have the men made their own decision?

Well, that’s Guadagnino leaving it up to the audience to decide. The ending works in some ways, but it is not truly convincing.

Last thoughts.

“Challengers” is, at times, exhilarating and exasperating to watch. Much like cheering on your favorite tennis player in a match in the hopes they come out as the victor.