Battle of the Sexes (2017)

Billie Jean King: Hello?
Bobby Riggs: Eureka, Billie Jean! It’s Bobby. Bobby Riggs.
Billie Jean King: Bobby? How did you get my number?
Bobby Riggs: I called every hotel in the city. Listen, I have a great idea.

Gladys Heldman: You do the Tennis. I'll do the smoking.

I'm sorta glad that I watched this on a plane. The Battle of Sexes just left me kinda wanting to stop watching but not enough so that I did, so it was good that the design of the situation kept me from changing things.

In a truly strange confluence, The Battle of the Sexes manages to take a good script, with a good cast, and an inspiring level of 1973 set/costume detail and turn it into something less than memorable. In this case 1+1=1.

I think the answer to this debacle is that while the original "Battle of the Sexes" was an interesting social point in history and worthy of a movie.  The event more easily lends itself to pure comedy than the elements of drama that were written to make a script. The drama somehow took away from the spectacle. And spectacle was the purpose of the the 1973 battle.

if you are a Steve Carrell or Sarah Silverman fan, both are fantastic in their roles.

2.4 out of 5 stars.