Review of Borg vs McEnroe (2017) by Mark P — 16 Nov 2018

This is the story of two obsessive-compulsive 1970s sports icons, when professional tennis players were rock-stars. Both Borg & McEnroe were self-motivated, focused, driven competitors, misunderstood and both revered and disliked for similar reasons.

Tennis is a solitary sport, w/ players fighting against the lines which contain the match, the net, judges, and opponents, all conspiring to keep the ball from going back over the net. The scenery, themes, costumes, and the actors played their parts just as I remembered them including Peter, Ilie, Arthur, Jimmy and Vitas as side cartoons in comparison with the eponymous titans of this tough-minded sporting film.

The fact that these men were unlikable causes the viewer to get bored about halfway through the biopic; their narcissism is repelling, despite their superstar abilities, and the fact that their pursuit of perfection transcends tennis.

But it makes you wish for a movie about Arnold Palmer, or Lee Trevino?! However, as the ending nears and the finals of Wimbledon approach, tension builds in each unique warrior. This is what they lived their entire (short) lives to do, and they will be judged by one match.

No one will remember how many titles Borg won in a row; only if he beat McEnroe in the match of the decade. Ultimately, McEnroe is remembered for being a "bad-boy" but Borg will always be called the machine.

It was interesting to see Borg's humanity played out from his childhood flashbacks (similar to Tonya Harding, another tortured star played by Margot Robbie). The RT #tomatometer ratings are lower for this film b/c it merely portrays a simple "tennis" story, with the variants in drama ancillary only to the conclusion, which is the long final match.

There are side topics of coaching, parenting, adolescent anger management, marketing, love relationships, friendships broken, mental health, European cultures, loneliness, press coverage, obsession, the nature of fame, and obviously youth sports; however, without a passing interest in the peak of professional tennis in the 70-80s era, one's attention wanders until they finally "get into it" on London's Centre Court.

Love tennis, love the movie. Digging deeper into how these men ultimately blended together psychologically to make the climactic decisive match one for sports history is vital to scoring this film more than 4-****.