BATTLE OF THE SEXES (Rated PG-13)

The tennis match showdown in “Battle of the Sexes” is a trip down memory lane for an audience old enough (which in the context of an event from 1973 would suggest a demographic with not an enormous box office draw) to remember Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King.

The former men’s tennis champ and all-around hustler Bobby Riggs is a footnote now to the history of the sexual revolution, while Billie Jean King has her name on the tennis center in Flushing Meadows, New York that is the home of the U.S. Open championships.

At the ripe age of 55 in 1973, Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) pioneered the self-made, colorful media-age celebrity who wrestled with his gambling demons at the expense of his family and increasingly frustrated socialite wife Priscilla (Elizabeth Shue).

Not exactly the domesticated type, Riggs favored late-night card games with his cronies in high-stakes wagering that allowed him once to snag a Rolls-Royce that became a thorny acquisition not so easily explained to his disapproving spouse.

His promises to quit gambling were so hollow that Priscilla eventually left him, seeing how she failed to tame his wild instincts and his complete lack of interest in a boring desk job in the family corporation.

For certain, the highly publicized tennis match is the main event, a public circus with far-reaching social implications that impacted the personal lives of two very different athletes who represented factions within an evolving societal construct.

Emma Stone is brilliant as Billie Jean King, turning in a chameleon-like performance so eerily adapting the mannerisms and physical look of her subject that she’s practically a doppelganger for the tennis star, but not in a bad way.

For his part, Steve Carell brings the flamboyant energy that is absolutely crucial to the character of the flashy self-promoter and spotlight-loving provocateur who championed the male chauvinist image, if for no other reason than to get back in the media glare.

Bobby Riggs was way past his prime as a tennis player, but he could not resist an opportunity to reinvent himself as a media-based celebrity willing to say inflammatory things with such bravado that controversy was inevitable.

On the other hand, Billie Jean King, almost half the age of Riggs, was a rising star who pressed the fight for equality in tennis, where women were making a fraction of the men’s prize money.

With the help of her brassy, hard-nosed business partner Gladys Heldman (Sarah Silverman), King, assisted by the management skills of her husband Larry (Austin Stowell), pioneered the Virginia Slims tour, which allowed women to set the financial terms of their participation.

The issue of King’s sexuality is explored with sensitivity and a degree of nuance, if only because her affair with hairdresser Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough) would have ruined her career if it had become public knowledge at the time.

King is also shown to be conflicted by her newfound proclivities because she considered her husband Larry to be more than a friend and lover. To his dismay, Larry figures out what is happening on the tour, and yet King herself struggles with guilt feelings.

When the top female player at the time, Australian Margaret Court (Jessica McNamee), accepts a challenge from Riggs to a match and then proceeds to lose in straight sets, it becomes inevitable that King must step into the breach to face down a boisterous Riggs.

Most appropriately, “Battle of the Sexes” climaxes with the exhibition match staged at the expansive Houston Astrodome, with an audience of 90 million tuning in, resulting in the biggest event on television since the moon landing.

To set the scene as the circus that certainly Riggs wished to have, the male contender arrives in the arena on a chariot to promote his Sugar Daddy sponsor, while King is carried by half-naked men looking like Greek warriors.

Though serious themes of gender equality, sexuality and other social issues run throughout the unfolding events, the film often has a light-hearted tone, due in no small measure to the goofy and funny antics of Riggs playing the part of a sexist pig.

When it comes to the match itself, there are no surprises in store for the foregone conclusion, but the intensity of King’s play is an interesting strategic move: just be sure to wear down your opponent by having him chase balls all over the court.

“Battle of the Sexes,” though committed to being an entertaining pleasure, covers a lot of ground in its exploration of cultural, social and political issues, including the insertion of doctored archival footage of famous ABC sportscaster Howard Cosell.

But most of all this film is all about entertainment, and the fact that it is centered on a story from long ago should not deter audiences of all adult ages to enjoy it.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.