One of the many, many delightful things about certified MOTM (movie of the moment) Challengers is all that darn product placement. It works on multiple levels, putting viewers in the movie’s milieu by actively showing us just how much sponsorships and brand deals make up the visual world of pro sports. That’s the case with Art’s branded Wilson racquets in the pro shop, his Uniqlo kit, the Aston Martin “Game Changers” ad, and Adidas’s Tashi Duncan campaign. Elsewhere, the product placement adds texture, communicating character details via the 21st century’s most recognizable iconography: brands. Think of Patrick eyeing the Dunkin’ breakfast sandwich like an emaciated cartoon coyote, or Tashi liberally applying Augustinus Bader The Body Cream ($190 for 200 ml.).
Then there’s Applebee’s.
In an absolutely pivotal flashback scene, we see Tashi and Art a year out of college, having dinner together at an Applebee’s in the Cincinnati area, presumably during the Cincinnati Masters, which takes place in the northeastern suburb of Mason every year. There’s a warm feeling to the setting, the familiar wood interiors and Tiffany-style lampshades of classic Applebee’s contrasting against the clean lines of tennis courts, generic hotel-lobby bars, and bedrooms in various states of mess where so much of the film plays out. In an intimate booth, Tashi learns that she was a home-wrecker after all (Art and Patrick are no longer speaking), and Art echoes his last eventful meal with her in the Stanford dining hall, saying, “Who wouldn’t be in love with you?” Eventually, they make out for the first time in front of the Cincinnati skyline and under a giant Applebee’s billboard that says “See You Tomorrow” in the first of two essential parking-lot make-outs in the film.
Why on earth set one of this deeply sexy movie’s most romantic moments in an Applebee’s, of all places, and why feature it so prominently? Because it’s historically accurate and a little wink for any tennis pros in the crowd is why. In 2014, the New York Times published an entire article about how visiting tennis stars competing in the Cincinnati Masters loved that specific Applebee’s, calling it “an anchor of player life since it opened in 1997.” The unlikely favorite drew players and their coaches back due to its late hours and proximity to the official tournament hotel (a Marriott). The Applebee’s was comforting and familiar to American players like John Isner while also a quintessentially American novelty to international players including Italian Karin Knapp (“in Italy, you don’t have so many televisions around … we enjoy it”) and Latvian Ernests Gulbis (“the best ribs I ever ate in my life”).
But it isn’t just the tennis world in-joke that makes Applebee’s the perfect setting for this scene. When we first meet these characters, they’re living at opposite extremes: Patrick in his car, Art and Tashi indefinitely in a luxury hotel. We get a sense of how removed their lives are from regular society because of their commitment to professionally hitting a ball with a racquet. Flashbacks hammer that point home; the Challengers timeline begins when these three characters are teenagers competing in the U.S. Open junior championships, and it’s clear that none of them have had particularly normal adolescences. Tashi is already a celebrity, and Art and Patrick have been in an Infinite Jest–y tennis-boarding school since age 12. But there’s something so youthful, so average about Tashi and Art going on what is essentially a first date at an Applebee’s. By the time they make out under the billboard, they’re fully on their “Jack and Diane” shit. I think the setting also foreshadows that Art and Tashi’s relationship would become safe and cocoon-ish for Art but bland and limiting for Tashi.
It appears that the Mason, Ohio, Applebee’s closed in 2019; that’s when its last Yelp reviews were posted and when Google Reviews began to mention it was closed. According to a Dayton.com article from 2018, Applebee’s corporate severed ties with the Ohio franchisee that owned that location and 19 others; it’s now a First National Bank. Director Luca Guadagnino and the Challengers creative team had to reconstruct it from scratch. Why go to all that effort for an Applebee’s? As Guadagnino told the Times, “I love the practicality of America, I think it’s fantastic. The way in which this landscape unfolds, everything can be completely meaningful.” Leave it to Italians, tennis players, and filmmakers alike to see Applebee’s for the magic it truly is.