Challengers review: Zendaya dominates homoerotic and charged tennis flick

Josh O’Connor and Zendaya in Challengers (Image: MGM Studios)

There’s a moment fairly close to the beginning of Challengers when it feels like the film’s only explicitly queer characters are to be relegated to a naff gag. An older gay couple lusts after a sweaty and short short-clad Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) as he tries to check into a hotel. It’s a brief bit that had audiences at an advanced screening laughing. “Is this it?” was the concern.

As a queer viewer, like many others, I’ve grown used to being baited with queerness in trailers only to be disappointed when I sit down to watch the damn thing. There are numerous examples of productions hinting at queer elements only for them to be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it bit. The promo material for

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