Borg McEnroe (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Janus Metz
	Actors: Shia LaBoeuf, Sverrir Gudnason, Stellan Skarsgård, Scott Arthur
	Country: S, DK, FIN
	Genre: Documentary, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 09.10.2017, Schauburg, OV Sneak Preview, Swedish/English/French with German subtitle
Synopsis: Björn Borg (Gudnason) and John McEnroe (LaBoeuf) enter the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 1980 with different perspectives. The gentleman Borg runs for the fifth title on the green and the fresh rookie McEnroe challenges Borg being controversed due to his hateful temperament on the court. Borg is supported by his wife and his trainer (Skarsgård). McEnroe is supported by his double partner Peter Fleming (Arthur).
Review: I am not much into tennis but McEnroe and Borg are known names. This was a kind of sport history for dummies to me, as I had no clue about who won from both. Not even that they were competitors! The story focuses on this one tournament in 1980 while I guess their actual friendship developped over more time than that.  Both adult characters are compared with their young characters with the clear goal to explain why they behave as adult as they do. And finally both have the same struggling core and this might be the reason for a friendship. Unfortunately to me, we do not go much into the characters and this friendship. We just scratch the surface. We see always the same scenes where McEnroe disputes with his friends. Always the same scenes where Borg is quiet and tense and contains his obvious anger against his trainer or familiar. Only the scene at the bar in Monaco with the bar tender who did not know Borg is really different because Borg's role is different and Gudnason can act differently. The actors are good in their roles. Both Shia LaBoeuf and Sverrir Gudnason. The old Skarsgård is as usual very good. I believe there was more space to develop these roles. The movie is to me entertaining and nice biopic about something I did not know, but not really a good movie.
Rating: 4 /10