Challengers age rating explained — Is it explicit?

Zendaya’s new movie is being marketed as a dark, sexy tennis romp — so, what’s the Challengers age rating, and how explicit is it?

If you didn’t think tennis could be sensual, think again. From the offset, Luca Guadagnino’s new drama looked to be a little different to the typical sports movie, bringing in some of the hottest rising stars working today — Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor — to put a dark twist on competitiveness and athleticism. And it all worked perfectly, as you can tell from our Challengers review.

Challengers marks Zendaya’s first leading role in a feature film, starring as Tashi Duncan, a young tennis protégée whose career is stunted through injury. Years later, she coaches her husband Art, and the two suddenly have to face-off against Tashi’s old flame, Patrick. A three-way battle ensues, where the adults have to confront their messy shared history.

The trailer for the new movie already established the hormone-driven nature of this plot. But how explicit is Challengers, really? And what’s the age rating?

Challengers age rating explained

In the US, Challengers has an R rating by the MPAA for “language throughout, some sexual content, and graphic nudity.”

Warner Bros.

An R rating means children under 17 cannot attend a screening without a parent or adult guardian.

In the UK, Challengers has been given a 15 rating by the BBFC, for “strong language, sex, and sex references.” This means the film is only suitable for people over the age of 15. The UK rating also accounts for “frank sexual descriptions and activity.”

How explicit is Challengers?

Challengers’ age ratings are based on mention of sexual content/activity, but the most explicit elements are the descriptions of sex, the language, and some brief male nudity.

The adult scenes in question don’t linger on a lot of detail beyond kissing, nor are they very extensive. There’s also some brief full-frontal male nudity, in the context of a changing room. Overall, the language throughout is very strong, including blatant descriptions of sexual activity.

Generally speaking, Challengers would not be suitable for children.

For more, find out if Challengers was based on a true story, and here’s how to watch Challengers. If you’ve already seen the movie, you’re probably keen to dig deeper into the Challengers ending, too. You can also find out where we rank Challengers in our list of the best movies of the year.