Everything is sex, except sex, which doesn’t actually happen much in this movie. Like many aspects of Challengers, director Luca Guadagnino serves a lot of potential but ultimately faults in the execution.

At the centre of this tennis-themed threesome is the shifting power dynamic between Tashi Donaldson (Zendaya), Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor). After breaking her knee during a match, Tashi becomes the coach for her cuckolded fiancé/cuckolded husband, Art, while still harbouring feelings for her ex-lover Patrick. Challengers centres its story around a mid-level tennis match, which Art is using to re-ignite his confidence ahead of the US Open, and, predictably, comes up against Patrick in the final. Who wins? It doesn’t matter. Who loses? The audience.

The premise is intriguing, especially when combined with a 90s synth-wave inspired soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, reminiscent of the club scenes in John Wick (although sadly none of the characters die), and a ‘steamy’ sex affair where people get turned on by tennis. But Challengers serves a double-fault from the first point because its characters are impossible to care for. Art is a pathetic, snivelling player past his prime, who grovels at the feet of his cheating wife, desperate for her approval. Patrick is an irredeemable arsehole, but apparently that’s okay because he knows he is. And Tashi is a manipulative, and jealous former-prodigy who lives vicariously through her failing husband, and sleeps with his former best-friend. The only likeable character in the film is Tashi’s mother, who babysits her daughter and holds any semblance of responsibility – although, if she’s aware of the affairs then is she equally as bad? In short, the characters are all irredeemably insufferable.

Using the tennis match as the centre point for the story, Challengers expands and explores its characters complicated history through repeated flashbacks. These flashbacks expound upon the suggested sexual intimacy between Art and Patrick, as well as their joint adoration for Tashi. It then jumps ahead to their time at Stanford University, where all three have tennis scholarships. And finally shows a few days before, and during the amateur tournament, where Tashi pulls ‘strings’ to make her sad little husband get his mojo back.

Challengers attempts to use the present tennis match as a lens and metaphor to represent the game between Art and Patrick for Tashi’s attention. But at no point in the film, flashbacks or present, is Tashi presented as a decent person worthy of such affection (not a comment on the appearance of Zendaya, but rather her character’s horrible personality). Of course there is the admiration of her tennis prowess, but, if that is the driving factor, Art and Patrick would be better off chatting up Andy Murray. It leaves you thinking, is there a more interesting, and inviting aspect of her personality that Guadagnino has simply chosen to leave on the cutting room floor?

In the moments Challengers does move its story forward in the present match, it is at a painfully slow pace. Guadagnino’s incessant use of slow-motion during the tennis scenes feels like he was an honorary student at the Zack Snyder school for filmmaking. Occasionally, the audience is distracted by the technical flash of an interesting camera angle or shot – the long-take along the tennis net towards Tashi sitting in the stands does deserve applause. But, ultimately, a lot of these shots are entirely style over substance. POV shots from Art and Patrick’s perspective during their match adds no extra layers to the deceptively shallow narrative Challengers drags its audience through.

While a lot of the film is frustrating, its ending is upsettingly stupid. During the final point of the match, Art discovers Tashi has cheated on him with Patrick. Does he get angry at Patrick and fight him? Does he try and humiliate him during the match? Does he leave the situation? No. He hugs his best-friend in a cute, slow-motion moment after their mutual love for tennis is reignited.

Ultimately, Challengers tries to act a lot smarter than it actually is. The staging of the ‘mystery’ surrounding their relationship at the start of the tennis match, which is (very) slowly unpacked throughout the endless flashbacks, ultimately leads to a simple ending.

Challengers is currently screening in cinemas.