King Richard (2021)

By: Mike Ward on Sunday, November 28

PG-13 Running Time: 144 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

Executive produced by Venus and Serena Williams, in loving tribute to their father’s dedication to their success, King Richard is a crowd-pleasing, inspirational story.
This might be Will Smith’s most lived-in and deeply felt performance, but Aunjanue Ellis leads a supporting cast that is equally impressive and makes King Richard a more emotionally charged film than some may be anticipating.
King Richard largely follows the biopic formula rather closely and should still win over even the most jaded of moviegoers.

NO

King Richard largely follows the biopic formula rather closely and could easily annoy those most jaded of moviegoers.
Imagine this same film, but about 20-25 minutes shorter.
Some have criticized the film’s centering on Richard Williams, when the film is really about Venus (and later Serena) Williams’ rise to success. Venus and Serena executive produced the film, which also has led to some criticizing the film as nothing more than vanity and/or hagiography.

OUR REVIEW

Within all of us lies the ability to find success, and sometimes we never get the opportunity to say thanks and levy appreciation upon those who have made a significant impact in our lives. With King Richard, sisters Venus and Serena Williams have found a way to pay their respects to their father, Richard, while also telling the story of how his unconventional methods in coaching led to them becoming two of the greatest tennis players in the history of the sport.

To call this simply a love letter to their father is to minimize the film as a whole. King Richard is not a perfect movie, of course, but it captures many of the rough-around-the-edges experiences and the off-kilter approach Richard would not waver from - frustrating experts, coaches, advisors, the media, and pretty much everyone else who brushed up against the Williams family during these formative years.

Will Smith is arguably the best he’s ever been inhabiting Richard, a gruff, shorts-wearing, stubborn, flawed, but driven father to five daughters in a blended home with wife Oracene, also known as “Brandy” (Aunjanue Ellis). We learn that before Venus and Serena were even born, plans were made to create a pathway for the girls to play tennis, with a 78-page plan-slash-manifesto on how Richard would bring these ideas into realities.

If that seems, shall we say, unconventional in terms of parenting, King Richard steps back from judgment and simply walks us through the moments and situations that led to the emergence of the Williams’ sisters on the international stage. Director Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men, Joe Bell) embeds us with Richard, a prickly character we grow to find somewhat frustrating, but certainly endearing thanks to Smith’s committed, almost unrecognizable performance.

Green, whose last film, Joe Bell, is one of 2021’s worst films, brings back some of the grit and scrappy storytelling spirit that made his 2018 debut, Monsters and Men, one of the hidden gems of that year. Though this is a major studio biopic, and checks off many of those formulaic boxes (and could use a good 30 minute cutback), Green recognizes opportunities in Zach Baylin’s screenplay to accentuate more than just the unending eccentricities of Richard’s demeanor and behavior.

A nice arc develops for Ellis, who spends much of the first half of the film letting Richard work through the plan for Venus and Serena, before becoming more pronounced in finding her voice, as the trajectory of Venus and Serena’s success begins to run counter to the 78-page playbook Richard insists on following. Watching the veteran actor receive standing ovations from audiences at pre-release screenings and generate Oscar buzz is a direct result of the quiet, but anchoring performance she gives. King Richard needs her and she carries her scenes with a reserved, but emotive strength.

Green knows he has a vivid and bold centerpiece in Smith. The ability to work with Baylin’s screenplay and infuse more character development, and less caricature, around Richard keeps us engaged and curious in how we get to a result we all know is coming - Venus and Serena Williams becoming teenage stars, en route to dozens of Grand Slam victories, and Hall of Fame tennis careers.

With Venus a year or so older than Serena, Saniyaa Sidney shines as the older tennis star, who unknowingly would pave the way for an even greater success to follow in sister Serena (Demi Singleton). Jon Bernthal pops in effectively as a traditional coach, who works with only the best, but constantly faces frustration with Richard’s refusal to veer from his plan and work with the flexibilities that success can generate.

As the movie hangs around for an overlong 144 minutes, the mind cannot help but wander towards thinking about how this movie could have gone in a number of different ways. Venus and Serena Williams are Black women, infiltrating a world where Persons of Color were not exactly winning tournaments and breaking records. They came from Compton, dealt with latent and confrontational racism, and Richard and Brandy’s strict parenting led to noisy neighbors believing they were being abusive to their children. As we learn, nothing could obviously be further from the truth.

I was left curious about how the film veers away from those places other films would willingly go. There is a story to be told here about racial inequity, racially-motivated dismissal, and mistreatment. A story to be analyzed on how much influence parents should have over their children and whether kids should be able to be kids, even if parents or guardians have a pre-determined path for them to follow. For everything King Richard shares with us, there’s a lot left unexplored.

Ultimately, King Richard ends on a high, with the final on-screen title cards updating the elements of the Venus and Serena story the movie doesn’t tell us about. We exit the film appreciating the steadfast dedication that we have seen play out before us. We appreciate the Williams’ sisters using their influence to share their gratitude and appreciation for all that their parents, and certainly Richard as the public face of the family and Williams’ brand, did for them. And as awards buzz swirls around the film, and certainly for the performances of Will Smith and Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard is a film worth experiencing, even if it ultimately opts for a safer, consumer-friendly approach to a story full of grit, determination, and tireless dedication.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Bernthal, Saniyaa Sidney, Demi Singleton, Tony Goldwyn, Mikayla Lashae Bartholomew, Daniele Lawson, Layla Crawford, Erika Ringor, Dylan McDermott, Marcela Zacarías

Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
Written by: Zach Baylin
Release Date: November 19, 2021
Warner Bros. | HBO Max

Executive produced by Venus and Serena Williams, in loving tribute to their father’s dedication to their success, King Richard is a crowd-pleasing, inspirational story.

This might be Will Smith’s most lived-in and deeply felt performance, but Aunjanue Ellis leads a supporting cast that is equally impressive and makes King Richard a more emotionally charged film than some may be anticipating.

King Richard largely follows the biopic formula rather closely and should still win over even the most jaded of moviegoers.

King Richard largely follows the biopic formula rather closely and could easily annoy those most jaded of moviegoers.

Imagine this same film, but about 20-25 minutes shorter.

Some have criticized the film’s centering on Richard Williams, when the film is really about Venus (and later Serena) Williams’ rise to success. Venus and Serena executive produced the film, which also has led to some criticizing the film as nothing more than vanity and/or hagiography.