Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours, 24 minutes
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
Quick Impressions:
I went to this movie only because Will Smith’s lead performance as Richard, the father of Venus and Serena Williams, is generating so much Oscar buzz. The whole time I was watching Andrew Garfield sing his heart out as Jonathan Larson in tick, tick…BOOM!, I kept asking myself, “Who are the other likely contenders for Best Actor this year?” Then I realized I hadn’t seen any of them (which is odd since I’ve already seen several performances strong enough to win Best Actress) (including Lady Gaga’s, despite what I said in my review of House of Gucci. I liked the film better after watching it a second time, though I still have my doubts.)
My husband has always loved Will Smith (especially as a rapper. I’m convinced we listen to his early albums in the car far more often than anyone who isn’t DJ Jazzy Jeff). (I doubt even Will Smith listens to his early music as much as we do. And every single time, we’re like, “Why did he think he could beat Mike Tyson?” We still can’t believe it. We’re bizarrely invested in the storylines of these raps.) My husband just really loves Smith’s music.
Of course, Will Smith is a good actor, and his movies are usually highly watchable (just ask my mom who once watched nothing but I, Robot for like three months!), but for some reason, the trailers for King Richard looked depressing to me. The movie is not depressing, of course. He’s playing the father of two of the biggest tennis stars the world has ever seen. What’s depressing about that story? He’s hoping his talented daughters can realize their dreams, and, of course, they do! (I don’t know what I was worried about! I guess the trailer just led me to anticipate more gritty adversity. I feared the movie might have a, “Yes, they’re stars, but at what cost?” vibe. But it doesn’t.) I went into King Richard expecting a strong performance in a sad, bleak film, and actually, it’s an enjoyable movie about a happy family that gets a happy ending. Watching it was fun.
You know what else has been fun? Reading all the crazy headlines my phone throws at me about Will Smith’s new memoir. (As we were driving to Dallas for Thanksgiving, I was texting my sister when some news app broke in with an alert that said, “Will Smith reveals ‘rampant’ sex caused him to vomit during orgasms.” That gets your attention. I had seen a variation of that headline already that day, so when I finished texting with my sister, I asked my husband if he’d seen anything about it. He hadn’t!
Shocked, I said, “There’s no way you haven’t been seeing this stuff. I see a new crazy headline about Will Smith’s memoir every single day.”
He had no idea what I was talking about, so I tried to read him the article, but the alert was gone. “I’ll just Google Will Smith orgasms,” I decided to the dismay of my husband, the amusement of my older son, and the bewilderment of my father.) (You would expect that to backfire disastrously, but, in fact, those exact search terms yielded several salient articles right away.)
Seriously, every day, one news app or another on my phone shows me multiple headlines that say, “And here’s an even more outlandish thing Will Smith included in his memoir.” I am not seeking these out. They just appear. I don’t know why my husband (who loves Will Smith) doesn’t get them. One thing’s for sure, though. I am going to read that memoir. (Part of me suspects these little blurbs are mostly click-baity yellow journalism. I’ll probably read the actual book, and it will be profound and grounded and change my life forever.)
The dad from King Richard must be Will Smith’s publicist. That’s the only thing that could possibly explain the sheer volume and unbridled audacity of these increasingly “shocking” headlines about his book. (I’ve seen some people speculate online that the strange material mentioned in connection with this memoir will hurt Will Smith’s Oscar chances, but I don’t see how. If anything, it will help his book sales. That’s what I would expect.)
The Good:
Maybe Will Smith will win Best Actor. After seeing the performance, I understand why so many people think he could. His character dominates the film. Richard Williams is simultaneously charming and exasperating. He has a wonderful, larger-than-life quality that makes him seem Dickensian or even Shakespearean (and perhaps that’s the reasoning behind the title). You watch and wish you knew him. (And then sometimes you think, “I do know him! He’s exactly like,” some dramatic relative you have. And then you watch more and think, “It’s a good thing he’s charming because otherwise, he would be insufferable.” I think most of us have probably had a character like him in our own lives at some point.)
Frankly, I wish that I had someone like Richard Williams promoting my work, someone so indefatigable, so impossible to discourage. (Honestly, I would even take Will Smith’s publicist—or whoever is promoting that memoir. I’m so bad at self-promotion.) Yes, sometimes Richard is obnoxious, but you see, he doesn’t care. He’s goal-driven, and he loves his kids. My grandpa was a little bit like Richard (beginning of the movie Richard, not intensely exasperating mid-movie Richard). He wasn’t trying to turn us all into tennis stars (fortunately), but he had that same sort of larger-than-life presence and thorough commitment to being who he was.
“Of course,” my husband said after the movie, “I have to think he succeeded mainly because his daughters were Venus and Serena Williams.”
“But all their daughters were successful,” I pointed out. “The oldest didn’t play tennis, but she graduated valedictorian.”
Mr. and Mrs. Williams may have their quirks, but they manage to raise a lovely family. (Of course, Richard abandoned his other family of five, but I’ll get to that later.)
In the end credits, we get to see clips of some of the videos the real Richard Williams was always making. He himself appears frequently, and based on what we see there, Smith’s performance is pretty spot on. This does seem like the kind of performance that would win an Oscar because if you can act (and Smith can) roles like this win you an Oscar. The character makes such an impression. He’s somebody you’d be delighted to see in one of those irrelevant Oscar broadcast clip packages fifty years from now. Richard Williams would show up in a montage, and audiences would say, “Oh yeah, we remember him!” It’s the best performance I’ve seen Smith give in years. (I feel like I say this a lot, but I really mean it this time. This is conspicuously good work from Will Smith, and it’s in a movie that people will actually enjoy watching.)
It didn’t surprise me to see that the Williams sisters came from such a lovely family. I don’t watch tennis very often (and I’m too clumsy to play myself), but I’ve been under the strong impression that Serena Williams is a lovely person ever since I saw her on a random episode of Punk’d back in the early 2000s. We were on vacation, and I was watching in a hotel room with my sister and her boyfriend who was explaining to me, “The only point of this show is to catch celebrities off guard and make them look ridiculous and obnoxious.” The episode we were watching had something to do with a kidnapped baby and a stolen car, and Serena was giving somebody a ride to help them get their baby back. All I remember was that she was so concerned for this baby and so worried by the situation and so helpful to the people in need. I noted, “This isn’t making her look obnoxious. She’s coming across as the nicest, most genuine, caring person. I think Serena Williams should have a show where she rescues people.”
So seeing Richard Williams and his wife raising the five girls to be caring, responsible people is no big surprise. (What about his other five kids? That’s none of my business.)
Smith (who is the focus of the movie most of the time) gives his best performance in years (which is why we were there). But another standout who really got my attention is Aunjanue Ellis as Richard’s wife Brandy, the matriarch of the family. Smith probably does give the best performance. (He has the showiest part.) But as the story went on, my favorite character gradually became Richard’s wife. I liked her so much that I finally started to ask myself, “Is this a strong performance, or just a strong character? Is it the actress you’re responding to, or just the character herself?” Then I realized, “Well, Sarah, how would you have any sense of this character without the actress showing her to you?” So honestly, I think if Smith gets an Oscar nomination, Ellis deserves one, too, for Best Supporting Actress. Smith’s character feels larger-than-life, whereas Ellis makes her character so down to earth that you forget it’s a performance and think you might meet this woman in your day-to-day life. Plus she makes an astonishing variety of tennis watching faces. (That seems hard to me.)
Also good is Saniyya Sidney as Venus Williams. (It just occurred to me that she must be playing tennis herself. Is she? Yes, I just confirmed that Sidney and Demi Singleton who plays Serena learned to play tennis for this movie. How did they do it? That would be like teaching a child to play the clavichord well enough to pass for Mozart!) These two have good screen chemistry and feel like sisters. (I don’t know how they learned to play tennis well enough to play the Williams sisters so quickly. I need to do more research about what went into their training and if any special effects or stand-ins were used to fool us.) (I know so little about tennis that I’m not completely aware of what a masterfully played match should look like. That makes me easy to fool, but what about the rest of the audience?) Rounding out the family are Mikayla Lashae Bartholomew, Daniele Lawson, and Layla Crawford as the other sisters. Tony Goldwyn plays Coach Paul Cohen, and then Jon Berenthal shows up as Coach Rick Macci (the most patient man in the world!).
Most Oscar Worthy Moment, Aunjanue Ellis:
Ellis has several Oscar worthy moments, so I do hope she gets nominated. The showiest is a fairly late speech she makes to Richard in the kitchen, reminding him that he’s not the only one who has contributed to raising their family.
Most Oscar Worthy Moment, Will Smith:
When the police drop by the house, Richard gives them a pretty rousing speech that resonated strongly with my husband. (This movie contains a number of passionate speeches, and they’re all very well delivered.)
Best Scene:
My favorite part of the movie is two scenes, not one. First, the moment in the car when Richard asks the girls to get out and buy him a drink. Not only is Aunjanue Ellis’s reaction well-acted (and relatable), but this moment highlights everything that makes Richard Richard. He’s terribly bothered by a troubling tendency he sees in his daughters, and he wants to teach them a lesson. It’s so important to him to instill values in them, to ensure that they treat others respectfully and remain humble. And he’s right that this is important. It’s easy to respect his vision and intentions. But then—like he always does—he takes things too far. As with everything else, his methods are highly unorthodox and would perhaps even be harmful were they not checked by his wife.
And then he’s still not done. I love what happens in the family meeting back at home. (For one thing, it makes me laugh. But it also reveals so much about Smith’s character.) Richard is a man who always goes too far (and still doesn’t think it’s far enough). His vision is commendable, but his drive is sometimes concerning.
(It’s funny to me, too, that while he is excessive and unorthodox here, what Richard makes the girls do is not actually damaging or cruel. In fact, just the opposite, it’s a nice, fun family activity. He doesn’t behave like a wicked stepmother from a fairy tale. He just shows a movie about one. He’s quite a guy.)
Best Scene Visually:
Near the end of the film, Venus is allowed to show more agency and given more control by her parents. I liked watching her play against Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.
Best Action Sequence:
When Richard gets pushed too far, he takes his gun in hand, and then something unexpected happens (that feels like providence intervening). This is certainly a thought-provoking moment.
The Negatives:
I’ve now heard several people ask why a biopic of two of the world’s most celebrated female tennis stars focuses on their father. Good question! I can see why Will Smith would want to do it because it’s the kind of part that could enable him to win an Oscar. But should a film about the rise to fame of Venus and Serena Williams be a character study of their father?
Also, what about the family that Richard abandoned? The movie doesn’t ignore this subject, but we hear about it only in one scene. Meanwhile, Venus and Serena’s abandoned half-sister is angry that Will Smith would make a film like this at all. Richard had five other children whom he completely abandoned (according to the oldest of them). Her complaint seems to be that the film lionizes Richard, which it doesn’t really. He’s depicted as deeply flawed, and the longer the movie goes on, the more those flaws become apparent. (I, for one, was stunned that his plans worked out. How did it possibly happen that someone with that degree of planning and scheming happened to have two children as naturally gifted as Venus and Serena Williams? Late in the film, Richard’s stubborn, idiosyncratic behavior began to make me increasingly concerned, even angry. Then I paused to examine that response because he was clearly motivated (at least in part) by a determination not to fall in line with racist stereotypes (or the people who perpetuated them). I wouldn’t call him an unproblematic figure. If I had been Rick Macci, the story might not have ended so happily.) (But it does all work out. So maybe what he’s doing is right? The story is not as simple as it appears.)
The film also left me with sort of a, “So what?” feeling. Richard doesn’t exactly leave us a successful blueprint for rising out of poverty. His plan only works if your daughters turn out to be Venus and Serena Williams. He could practice with them and drag them around with the same relentless audacity and enthusiasm, but if they didn’t have that level of talent, it would get him nowhere.
And just to go off on a tangent for a moment, Nike needs to fire the guy they sent to Venus with an offer. Look, I’m gullible, and even I found the wording that Venus and her mother bristle at suspicious. Why did he say that? What an idiot! Even if his offer was time sensitive, he could have worded it differently. The way he said it would give anyone the distinct impression that they would sign to their own disadvantage. I have nothing to do with sports or fame or signing multi-million-dollar contracts, but even I drew the obvious conclusion from his wording. If that really happened the way the movie depicts it, I hope that guy was fired. (This isn’t really a complaint about the movie. Just something I wanted to get off my chest.) (And actually, I’m being too mean to the guy. I hope he wasn’t real and that never happened because I would hate for anyone to lose his job for a single act of incompetence no matter how much he deserves it.) (But if the scene is imagined for the film, perhaps the problem with the offer should not be so obvious.)
For me, the positives of the film outweighed the negatives because I am happy to join in a celebration for the success of Venus and Serena Williams, and though I think their father has a number of character flaws, his wife points them out for us commendably.
Overall:
King Richard was much more fun to watch than I expected. Will Smith gives his best performance in years, and Aunjanue Ellis deserves an Oscar nomination, too. This is a moving story about a family that overcomes obstacles to succeed spectacularly. It doesn’t exactly portray Richard Williams as a hero, and that’s probably a good thing.