Review: 'Battle of the Sexes' serves up a too-timely story

Can an inspirational movie also be a drag?

That's the distinct feeling one can't shake walking out of "Battle of the Sexes ," a fictionalized rendering of the 1973 tennis match between 29-year-old Billie Jean King and 55-year-old hustler Bobby Riggs and the circumstances surrounding it.

At stake is the opportunity for women in tennis to even get equal pay consideration, the reputation of a player who could have just stayed in her lane and the perceptions of society at large and, perhaps most importantly, the men in power.

"I'm going to be the best," says Emma Stone playing Billie Jean. "That way I can really change things.