Make Time for This - GSPN's Podcast for Pop Culture and Other Things · GSPN, Blue Wire

The frenetic exuberance and energy of Challengers, plus a revealing look into Andrew's mind and life

·1 hr 20 min·5 clips
Andrew Snyder explains why tennis feels better than gyms, massages, golf, guitar, and other abandoned hobbies.
1. Make Time for This: GSPN's Podcast for Pop Culture and Other Things features Adam McGee and Andrew Snyder discussing Luca Guadagnino's Challengers. 2. Adam McGee and Andrew Snyder host the Captured and Celluloid segment, while Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, and Mike Feist matter as the film's director and central performers. 3. The episode asks why Challengers feels like a major mainstream success when Adam cites only $29 million worldwide and Andrew describes a delayed film he expected to disappoint him. 4. Adam compares the film's vocal Twitter response with its modest box-office figure and Ryan Gosling's competing movie The Fall Guy. 5. Andrew says Challengers exceeded his expectations and compares its messy tennis characters to the appeal of Real Housewives programming. 6. Andrew calls Challengers a flawed but highly watchable mainstream film starring Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, and Mike Feist. 7. Andrew describes the central relationships as sexually charged and codependent, saying the characters blur the lines between hero and villain. 8. Adam and Andrew connect Challengers' editing and structure to tennis rallies, including a five-set match that approaches tiebreakers. 9. Adam argues that the film's approximately 2-hour-15-minute runtime weakens its frenetic design and suggests cutting 15 to 20 minutes. 10. The hosts discuss how Challengers' emotionally difficult relationships and nontraditional resolution could frustrate viewers seeking a straightforward plot ending. 11. Andrew says his tennis lesson immediately before watching Challengers strengthened the film's personal resonance without making him believe he could pursue a professional career. 12. Andrew explains that he bought a $30 tennis racket after avoiding expensive commitments like the guitar he repeatedly abandoned. 13. Andrew lists failed or intermittent hobbies including gym training, floor hockey, golf, guitar, and possible pickup baseball. 14. Adam encourages Andrew to continue testing hobbies without treating a dropped activity as a personal failure. 15. Andrew links his secrecy about new hobbies to insecurity, family expectations, and a reluctance to discuss interests before they become permanent. 16. Adam praises Guadagnino's ability to adapt material from writers including Justin Kuritzka and James Ivory while preserving recognizable visual and musical choices. 17. The conversation shifts between film criticism, sexual jokes, tennis metaphors, and a candid account of Andrew's fitness anxieties. 18. Adam and Andrew use an informal two-host review format that moves from box office and performances to pacing, audience reception, and directorial style. 19. Guadagnino fans, tennis-film viewers, and audiences for messy relationship dramas. 20. Viewers seeking short runtimes or uncomplicated romantic resolutions might skip it.
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