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Battle of the Sexes

Play trailer 1:50 Poster for Battle of the Sexes PG-13 Released Sep 29, 2017 2h 1m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
84% Tomatometer 314 Reviews 71% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
The 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs became the most watched televised sports event of all time. Trapped in the media glare, King and Riggs were on opposites sides of a binary argument, but off-court each was fighting more personal and complex battles. With her husband urging her to fight for equal pay, the private King was also struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality, while Riggs gambled his legacy and reputation in a bid to relive the glories of his past.
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Critics Consensus

Battle of the Sexes turns real-life events into a crowd-pleasing, well-acted dramedy that ably entertains while smartly serving up a volley of present-day parallels.

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Critics Reviews

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Heather Hogan Autostraddle It's a sports movie, complete with breathless action sequences, overwrought crowd reactions, and a soaring score. It's a biopic about a legend. And it's one of the best lesbian films I've ever seen. Jul 2, 2018 Full Review Tara Brady Irish Times At 121 minutes, Battle of the Sexes occasionally drags, but it's the Hairy Legged Feminist-Male Chauvinist Pig showdown that we needed right now. Rated: 4/5 Dec 1, 2017 Full Review Deborah Ross The Spectator The film is not unsuccessful, as it's mostly entertaining enough, and if the gender politics seem oversimplified, there are reminders of some real-life commentaries. Nov 29, 2017 Full Review Don Shanahan Every Movie Has a Lesson Injecting earnest drama and profundity into the tried-and-true sports movie formula, directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton have crafted a gratifying yarn packed with contagious enthusiasm. Rated: 4/5 Feb 16, 2024 Full Review Brian T. Carney Washington Blade Andrea Riseborough is great as Billie Jean’s first girlfriend and Austin Stowall and Elisabeth Shue turn in fine performances as their conflicted spouses. Dec 14, 2022 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Fortunately, the film never becomes a hype machine or gets caught up in the bizarre media circus around the central match. The concentration remains on the players and the emotional stakes, as well as what King's victory represents. Rated: 3/4 Mar 17, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member This Movie just feels off in every way. Sure it's based on a true story and depicts what happend, but i just feel like it's looked upon in the wrong way. (Not saying I can do better, just my opinion). The male chauvinism was very clear from the getgo and was talked about every 10 minutes. I get that that's the point of the movie, however we are bound to get the message after 3 or 4 times, but 15 just feels like its forced down our throughts. The acting wasn't astonisthing, but there wasnt much to work with given the viewpoint/writing of the movie. I also think that the time period in which the movie takes place is pretty uncomfortable and not nice to look at (as i am not from that time period). But that is my problem. TLDR I feel like the director approched the movie at the wrong angle. 4/10 Rated 2 out of 5 stars 10/21/24 Full Review Jeff M Stone excels in highly enjoyable film. King's story more interesting than titular battle though it is well filmed. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/11/24 Full Review Alec B Dayton and Faris seem to love the early 70s aesthetics more than anything else in this story, which at times comes at the cost of the characters. That said the best thing here is how inevitable King's victory always feels, which makes Riggs' antics all the more pathetic. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/05/24 Full Review Gareth v Entertaining enough. Stone & Carrell are good in the lead roles but could of done with a stronger script to work with. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/22/23 Full Review Diogo G This movie may not please to everybody's taste, allthough for the ones that enjoy real life stories retold in the form of movies, this becomes an absolute must see as it compiles light humour, a lot of emotion and adrenaline. Overall an awsome movie! Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review isla s This is an interesting story - a true life one at that and it features some good performances from both Steve Carell and Emma Stone. The actual match its about only features in a minority of scenes, so if the thought of watching a lot of tennis puts you off the film, I'd say that's not a valid reason to not see it because the majority of the plot focuses on the two players opposing views regarding equality etc. and lifestyles. I thought this was quite an insightful watch and I would recommend it, yes. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Battle of the Sexes

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Cast & Crew

The Upside 43% 82% The Upside Watchlist TRAILER for The Upside Please Stand By 58% 69% Please Stand By Watchlist TRAILER for Please Stand By Ricki and the Flash 65% 43% Ricki and the Flash Watchlist TRAILER for Ricki and the Flash Joy 61% 57% Joy Watchlist TRAILER for Joy Green Book 77% 91% Green Book Watchlist TRAILER for Green Book Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis The 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs became the most watched televised sports event of all time. Trapped in the media glare, King and Riggs were on opposites sides of a binary argument, but off-court each was fighting more personal and complex battles. With her husband urging her to fight for equal pay, the private King was also struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality, while Riggs gambled his legacy and reputation in a bid to relive the glories of his past.
Director
Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton
Producer
Christian Colson, Danny Boyle, Robert Graf
Screenwriter
Simon Beaufoy
Distributor
Fox Searchlight
Production Co
Decibel Films, Cloud Eight
Rating
PG-13 (Some Sexual Content|Partial Nudity)
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 29, 2017, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 19, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$12.6M
Runtime
2h 1m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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