Ever since the first trailer for Luca Guadagnino's sports romance film Challengers hit the internet last June, fans have been obsessed with Zendaya, Captivated by the love triangle between Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor. The promo strongly hints at the MMF trio, effectively appealing to movie buffs, tennis enthusiasts and those with a voracious appetite for sex. Challenger spoilers ahead .
As it turns out, the movie, which opens in theaters on April 26, has exactly zero sex scenes, relying instead on strong sexual tension to hit its horny quota. Although this mostly stems from Art Donaldson (Faist) and Patrick Zweig (O'Connor)'s years-long battle for the affections of Zazie Duncan (Zendaya) , but there’s another equally compelling love story in the trio.
Best friends since boarding school, Art and Patrick have a natural chemistry as delicious as the churros they eat. The sexual tension is palpable and ever-present, especially in their most intense scenes - which are often topless, FYI. Despite being the only character dealing with queer identity, "Contenders" was hailed online as the bisexual film of the year.
From Patrick and Art's phallic snack choices to their passionate makeout scenes, the film is 131 minutes of non-stop bisexual innuendo (we know, these are two very bisexual editors). Here are all the moments that prove they're a couple worth rooting for.
Extremely hungry body language
Although Tashi is considered the center of the plot, the film opens with an incredible same-sex tennis match between Art and Patrick, filled with sweat and a lot of grunting.
The film then flashes back to a tag team match from their youth, in which they declared victory and celebrated the way any perfectly platonic friends would do: jumping into each other's arms and collapsing to the floor. They ended the intimate moment with a kiss on the forehead, then kissed more for the ultimate trophy, before going to watch Tashi compete for the first time.
Even after Tashi's character is introduced, the boys' interactions with her often center on each other. During the game, Patrick excitedly grabbed Art's upper thighs, visibly excited. When Patrick later visited her at Stanford, he seemed delighted by Art's jealousy, pulling his chair closer and asking, "Do you realize this makes me feel hotter?" As they eat penis snacks from each other's hands.
Their diet of only phallic food
If there are three things Art and Patrick are passionate about, it's tennis, Zaci Duncan and eating food shaped like a penis. Hot dogs, churros, bananas, Coke bottles, electrolyte packets, cigarettes – the list goes on. If it looked like male genitalia, the boys would eat it while making direct eye contact with each other.
This feeling is especially evident in the aforementioned Stanford scene, in which two boys suck on a churro stick less than 6 inches from each other's faces. It was also a common occurrence during their final showdown, with Patrick munching a banana triumphantly on the sidelines and flashing his all-knowing smirk at his former best friend. He hasn't told Art yet that he slept with Tashi the night before, a detail he'll reveal only when their one-on-one game reaches its climax.
"It's an open relationship"
Patrick and Art are surprisingly open about their sexuality, often under the guise of friendship. (As the saying goes, "They're roommates.")
"I'm going to let her fuck me with the racket," Patrick told Art as they watched Tashi dance. Later that night, they both asked her for their phone numbers simultaneously, seemingly unconcerned that she would eventually have to choose one over the other. Art jokingly refers to their dynamic as an "open relationship." Tashi quickly understood their chemistry and asked, "How often does this happen? Chasing the same girl?"
At the hotel, she pressed if they had hooked up, and after a sheepish look from Patrick, the boys admitted that he taught Art "how to masturbate." The story of their mutual masturbation is considered a classic event by many queer people.
Their incredible bisexual kiss
This inevitably leads to the moment we've all been waiting for: a steamy boy-on-boy make-out session that Tashi orchestrates and watches before promptly fleeing the scene. (Her reason? “I’m not a homewrecker.”)
Art was left with a furious rage, and naturally, he put it in his best friend's face. Patrick happily slapped it aside while joking about who would win the contest and get her number. He won the battle, but not the war.
They are *always* topless
Even though the film is supposedly about their mutual love for Tashi, the two spent a lot of time shirtless together. During one of them while they were sweating it out in the sauna, Art accused Patrick of "waving your dick around like I should be afraid of it."
Patrick's heavily implicit queerness
Although these scenes are filled with bisexual tension, "Contenders" never fully explores Art and Patrick's romantic relationship. But gay people did win one victory: confirmation that Patrick was gay.
Years after their friendship ended, he was seen sitting in a dressing room surrounded by naked men, scrolling on Tinder. The silhouette of a woman flashed by, and then he paused briefly on a picture of a bearded man. It's not much, but it's enough to set the stage for a sequel - one that could give Art and Patrick the happy ending they deserve.
