Like most biopics of people involved in the project itself King Richard is an inspiring film that never quite lets it characters be that real. Richard Williams, the father of tennis champions Venus and Serena, gets the most room for characterization (I mean it is a vehicle for Will Smith after all) but the rest of the cast, including the roles of the famous tennis stars, don't amount to much but 2-dimensional characters. Having said that, King Richard is an emotionally rewarding ride in an undeniably amazing story about incredible talents
What works is how well the film makes the case for how Black people have to be 100x better than the white people around them to have any measure of success. King Richard shows us how much unconditional love helps us become the best we can be. And it does give Smith the chance to remind us what an incredible actor he is. His Richard Williams is not only completely compelling on screen (not far off from the real man as I understand) but he gets to be more complicated than the film otherwise might call for with Smith's interpretation.
Still, while everyone else is rather thinly drawn, despite Smith's award winning performance, the film never quite paints a cohesive picture of Richard. Sometimes he's too pushy. Sometimes he's too protective. Sometimes he's the perfect dad and husband, yet for a brief moment out of the blue there are marital problems which just go away without the film addressing it again. He bounces back and forth without the film ever really being able to make it all make sense. Smith's performance ties some of it together but never quite centres on a fully rounded centre to its film. That paired with ensuring that Venus and Serena are portrayed as nothing short of perfect children, the film loses a chance to feel completely honest.
The one exception to this is Aunjanue Ellis as Oracene Price, the girls' mother and coach, who gets to be the most dynamic of the characters on screen.
Still a docudrama is not what this film is about. Just like Bohemian Rhapsody wasn't about a truthful accounting of the rise of Queen. King Richard is about what these people represent in our lives. This is an undeniable story of Black excellence, the strength of family in overcoming adversity, and as I said the way being loved and supported lets us reach our goals. And in that King Richard delivers. As the film builds to Williams' first tournament at 14 when she almost beat Arantxa Sánchez Vicario the film is in full inspiration mode and it earns it. We already know both Williams will become the best in the world. We don't need to see that. Instead the film knows to give us the moment of triumph of this family and it is a glorious moment.
King Richard
Starring: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Jon Bernthal, Tony Goldwyn, Dylan McDermott, Rick Sommer, Kevin Dunn
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
Writer: Zach Baylin
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