Curator Watchlist
A breezy, crowd-pleasing sports biopic with a sharper political and queer undercurrent than its marketing suggests. It works best as a character piece about public pressure, private identity, and the spectacle of gender politics in the early 1970s.
Where to watch: Buy
Fri · 2h 1m
Director: Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton
Starring: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough
The true story of the 1973 tennis match between world number one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs.
Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton
Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough
A breezy, crowd-pleasing sports biopic with a sharper political and queer undercurrent than its marketing suggests. It works best as a character piece about public pressure, private identity, and the spectacle of gender politics in the early 1970s.
Battle of the Sexes is less interested in tennis mechanics than in the cultural theater surrounding the match. The film uses the 1973 showdown as a pressure cooker for celebrity, sexism, media manipulation, and the exhausting performance of public identity, while keeping the tone nimble and approachable.
Emma Stone gives Billie Jean King a guarded warmth that makes the character’s private awakening feel lived-in rather than schematic. Steve Carell leans into Bobby Riggs as a showman who understands that provocation is its own kind of power, and the film smartly lets the rivalry feel both absurd and consequential.
What lingers most is the movie’s sense that history is made not only on the court but in the spaces around it: locker rooms, hotel rooms, press conferences, and quiet moments of self-recognition. It’s a polished, emotionally accessible period piece that lands its politics through momentum rather than sermonizing.
Lucy (3.5★) · 2490 likes
a soft gay love story marketed as a goofy steve carell comedy drama about tennis
Stephanie (3★) · 1972 likes
Billie Jean King: *has sex with a girl for the first time*Me: god I wish that were me Billie Jean King: *drives down the California coast, flirting with the girl she likes, wind in their hair, listening to music*Me: god I wish... Billie Jean King: *holds that girl's hand, kisses her tenderly*Me: god.............
Sarah (3.5★) · 1639 likes
Emma Stone saw Moonlight’s gay ass snatch that best picture oscar right outta her hand and thought “a bitch won’t be fooled again!”
samantha (4.5★) · 1422 likes
there is no gay agenda like emma stone kissing a girl and then kicking a misogynist’s ass
andrea🌹 (4★) · 1407 likes
male reviewers rlly out here rating this movie poorly and calling it a 'crowdpleaser' huh what can i say i am the crowd and i sure was pleased
A sharp, character-driven look at public image, ambition, and performance under scrutiny, with a similarly accessible documentary-style momentum in the way it turns personal life into spectacle.
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Shares the uplifting, mainstream biographical energy while centering women navigating institutional sexism and public recognition.
A breezy sports film about gender expectations, family pressure, and self-definition, with a similarly crowd-pleasing tone.
A stylized biographical drama about a woman turning private pain and identity into public art and legend.
A polished, accessible true-story sports drama with broad emotional appeal and a strong underdog framework.
Another sharp biographical film about a woman in a spectacle-driven sports world, balancing humor, pain, and media distortion.
For viewers drawn to the human cost behind performance and fame, with a bruised, intimate look at aging public personas.
A landmark queer biopic that, like this film, connects personal identity to public activism and historical change.
A warm but unsentimental queer-family drama that shares the film’s interest in sexuality, domestic life, and emotional self-reckoning.
A biographical portrait of a public figure shaped by power, image, and private compromise.
A glossy, audience-friendly biographical film that balances personal discovery with a strong sense of period texture and performance.
gender politics, queer awakening, sports rivalry, true story, 1970s period drama, media spectacle, feminism, public identity
sports drama, period piece, LGBTQ+, feminist, biographical, 1970s, crowd-pleaser, competition, coming-of-age, historical drama