SnoopyStyle It's 1980. Björn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) is #1 chasing a historic 5th consecutive Wimbledon. #2 John McEnroe (Shia LaBeouf) is the bad boy of tennis. On the surface, these two are complete opposites but they have a lot in common. Lennart Bergelin (Stellan Skarsgård) has been Borg's coach since he was an angry young boy. Borg is breaking down from the pressures of his perfection and his fame. McEnroe is isolated due to his reputation. The two would meet in one of the most epic tennis matches in history.Borg's story is compelling. The acting is perfect. The character's internal journey is grand. McEnroe's character journey lacks by comparison. It probably needs a bit more. LaBeouf is great. The most surprising dissection of his tantrums come from Borg. The tennis match is pretty good. The more compelling scenes come from the locker room. This is a very good sports movie and character studies.

alfredosoni There's something missing in this film. I'm still wondering what would be as the performances were solid, and the "life" segment we follow were interesting. Mostly I felt that the characterization, both of Borg and McEnroe, were to simplistic and lacking depth, as they were presented in one dimension only. Borg is presented on flat way as "the" cold ice block and McEnroe, as the emotional volcano always near of erupting, Just disappointing...

jacktimney This film was not the slap dash rubbish it could have been. There is definitely a lot of artistic license at play. But that makes the story a lot more interesting.Borg is perfectly cast by actor Sverrir Gudnason. Mcenroe is played by the more high profile Shia LeBeouf. For some reason I cannot get the child actor version of LeBeouf out of my head. Perhaps it is his relatively small stature. However he does a good Mcenroe here, no problem!The film uses flashbacks to tell the story of Borg. Documented is his obsessional attitude to winning. Both players are portrayed as ruthless on court and often highly strung due to their will to win. Characteristics both players eschewed in real life. Once I realised I did not know the result of the final match. That dramatic meeting of Borg and a young McEnroe in I made sure I did not find out, so I could enjoy the moment in the film. If you are a tennis fan this has to be 9/10. I am more of a motorsport man and hence I enjoyed Rush more than this. But it is a charming little film and like Rush it is done properly. No lazy formulaic stuff here!

The Couchpotatoes After I, Tonya this is the second sports related movie I watch this month and twice I didn't have huge expectations about it and twice I was pleasantly surprised. The difference this time is that I would never watch figure skating in real while tennis is an appealing sport to me. I remember watching the rivalry on the tennis courts between John McEnroe and Björn Borg. Those were great games of tennis. Everybody knows McEnroe for his temperament and of course his great tennis skills but what was interesting to me is to see how Borg used to be while he was little. He was exactly the same as McEnroe and so it doesn't surprise me at all that they became friends in the end. The movie is very well made, with a lot of back story, and so not only tennis shots. Shia Leboeuf did a good job portraying John McEnroe, but the amazing thing in this movie must be the stunning resemblance from Sverrir Gudnason with Björn Borg. It's like they could have been brothers. Even if you're not into sports, or tennis in this case, this movie is certainly worth a watch. A movie full of emotions.