BATTLE OF THE SEXES

BATTLE OF THE SEXES was the perfect antidote, for me, to all the bad news lately. A movie that tells the true story of the lead up to—and the personalities involved in—the tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs that captivated the world of 1973 at the dawn of the era of "second wave feminism" as expressed in what we called then "The Women's Movement."

Emma Stone as King, and Steve Carell as Riggs, give Academy Award performances, playing every nuance of their characters' personalities and struggles with accuracy and depth. Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE) and co-directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE) plumb the talents of an extraordinary cast, of which Elizabeth Shue stands out in the role of Riggs' wife among stellar performances by Sara Silverman, Natalie Morales, Bill Pullman, Austin Stowell, and many others.

It's especially timely at this moment of reassessment of feminism and male privilege, and a great history lesson in how one woman's tenacity and courage—with the help of other women and a few men—took on an entrenched powerful corporate sports establishment and changed the course of not just her sport, but of her, and our, world.