Yes, Zendaya is Oscar-Worthy in ‘Challengers’

As mentioned last week, I was originally very skeptical about Sydney Sweeney’s acting abilities, that is until I saw her work in 2023’s “Reality.” She is flat out great in that film. The girl can act.

Same thing happened to me with Sweeney’s “Euphoria” co-star Zendaya. It’s not that she wasn’t good in “Euphoria,” quite the contrary, but I never really thought she’d stretch her acting talents beyond that. Boy, was I wrong.

I recently reviewed Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” and, although the film tackles a familiar love triangle, one that’s been depicted an incalculable number of times before, there’s an originality to the way the story is told here that lays credence to how, sometimes, the most familiar of stories can be injected with brazen new energy.

In “Challengers,” Zendaya owns every scene. She’s ridiculously good as Tashi, a tennis prodigy, and the object of lust and affection of two players. It’s the best performance of her career — she’s intimidating, domineering and playful, all at once. A real high-wire act of acting.

The way her character plays off both Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Faist) is so slyly menacing that, at first watch, you might not even notice it. It’s a performance that could have easily veered in the wrong direction, but Zendaya nails the delivery here, both in pitch and tone.

This is all very surprising given that I didn’t think Zendaya had it in her to deliver something this ferocious. She’s mostly dabbled in fine performances (‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Dune’). I also thought she was severely miscast in Sam Levinson’s “Malcolm and Marie.” However, in “Challengers” she just ups her game.

At this point, and despite it being so early in the year, I’m almost certain Zendaya will be heavily contending for an Oscar nomination come next awards season. This is her breakthrough movie role. You won’t see her the same way again.