King is played by the Oscar-winning Emma Stone, who captures her unique blend of determined grit and awkward social behavior. Her take on King is relatively shy and spotlight-averse, the opposite of the gregarious Bobby Riggs, portrayed by Steve Carell. A gambling addict, the 55-year-old Riggs has lost his drive, looking for the next hustle to keep him happy, even as his bad habits frustrate his wife, played in a totally thankless role by Elizabeth Shue. When the head of the Tennis Association, played with an almost caricature degree of smarm by Bill Pullman, offers a tournament in which the female winner will get $1,500 while the male winner gets $12,000, King jumps ship, and she takes almost every female tennis player that matters with her. Led by Gladys Heldman (Sarah Silverman), the ladies form their own tennis tour, and the world notices, including Bobby Riggs.

While Riggs is looking for his next big thing, King is confronted with something she didn’t expect, a romance with her hairdresser, Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough). Happily married to Larry (Austin Stowell), Billie Jean never expected to fall in love with another woman, and it’s the kind of affair that could destroy her career, especially as the new tour is trying to find sponsors. With this new romance as the backdrop, King ends up agreeing to a one-time match with Riggs, who believes that an over-the-hill male tennis player can still beat the #1 young, female tennis champion. While a lot of the people around her see this as just a gimmick, she realizes the message it could send to the world if she loses.

With copious amounts of ‘70s style and music, directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (“Little Miss Sunshine”) work hard to recreate a period in which male chauvinism could still be very easily taken as a public position. It’s hard to imagine a dinosaur like Bobby Riggs getting any attention beyond a small core of morons nowadays. Even if his brand of sexism is depressingly alive and well, it’s not the kind of thing sports announcers openly defend. Listening to Howard Cosell and company legitimize Riggs’ worldview shows how much of a culture King had to work to tear down.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7vGnqmempWnwW%2BvzqZmq52mnrK4v46bmK2snJp6sLKMrZ%2BeZaOaxaa%2FjGtnam8%3D