Look, I like mid-century soapy melodrama. I like Douglas Sirk. I like Harold Pinter's Betrayal. If you combined all of this but made it a 2024 movie about professional tennis you'd end up with something like Challengers.

Being into tennis and having experienced the levels of psychology and emotion that can run rampant through a player on the court during a competitive match that matters will probably help you enjoy this movie. Or possibly not. It helped me.

The music is a pumping electronic soundtrack that might pleasantly remind you of the score for Run Lola Run.

The movie has really good photography and editing and sound. The story jumps around chronologically, gradually revealing information that increases suspense and interest. And your toes will be tapping almost the whole time.

It starts with a very high-energy title track that really surges forward and keeps its heart rate up. Occasional sound effects are mixed in and this one ends with a cell phone alarm.

A more laidback and swinging feel follows in "'I Know'", which has a tennis ball sound effect break in the middle.

The next track is aptly named "Yeah x10" as it features the word "Yeah" repeated as lyrics. There's a heavy bass line that creates most of the song's shape and it occasionally drops out, giving it a pleasing variety.

A dreamy and hypnotic piano line with some angelic textural sounds surrounding it comes up next in the beautiful "L'oeuf" and then it's dance time with the irresistible club beats of "The Signal".

"Brutalizer" raises the intensity with a pounding but spare track. It's almost immediately repeated in "Brutalizer 2", after "Stopper" reprises "Yeah x10".

Lean rhythm with some perky staccato dancing around on top, eventually giving way to some long tones make up "The Points That Matter".

"Lullaby" is less than a minute long and lullaby-sounding, played gently and quietly on solo keyboard. The sound of a door opening and closing brings us seamlessly from there into "Final Set", which reprises the piano from "L'oeuf".

"Pull Over" likewise reprises "Brutalizer" and "Challengers: Match Point" unsurprisingly returns to the main title theme.

There's an actual song with lyrics beside "Yeah" at the end of the record: "Compress/Repress" leans heavily on its title for its lyrics but throws in some other thoughts such as "No one here / Stays the same / Something else / Breaks the rules / Of this game". It's good.

There's also "Friday Afternoons, Op. 7: A New Year Carol" by Benjamin Britten thrown in here. Just to be complete, I guess.