King Richard
As its title suggests, King Richard isn’t about Venus and Serena Williams, but their enterprising, visionary father who guided them to tennis superstardom.
In portraying the colorful, bearded man who quickly became a fixture in grand slam tournament family boxes while his daughters dominated the sport, Will Smith awakens from his decade-long slumber, delivering by far his most enjoyable performance since Men in Black 3 (2012). It’s warm, committed work, and though his country bumpkin speech may be true to the Louisiana man he’s portraying, it also incites cringes as it recalls the actor’s unfortunate turn in The Legend of Bagger Vance.
Dedicated to his children’s wellbeing, arguably to a fault, Richard’s wild-card personality infuses each potential new coach or sponsor interaction with entertaining tension, making viewers concerned that he’ll screw up a great opportunity. But Richard knows best and is proven right again and again in Zach Baylin’s script, albeit at the expense of developing Venus (Saniyya Sidney, Fences) or Serena (Demi Singleton) into more beyond pawns in his master plan.
The first-time screenwriter offers little sense of what motivates the sisters or makes them special talents — other than Richard insisting that they employ an unorthodox open stance to achieve a more powerful game. The writing also glosses over some of the Williams’ family’s most intriguing details, namely Richard’s sordid past and how he’s not exhausted all the time with a late night security job and daytime tennis training with his daughters.
And while director Reinaldo Marcus Green (Joe Bell) excels at immersing audiences in the world of tennis and an unorthodox family dynamic, he and Baylin place undue attention on one tennis match. Though the showdown is a key chapter in Venus’ storied career, it drags on and on, and merely reinforces qualities that have already been established rather than take them in new directions.
Grade: B-minus. Rated PG-13. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, Grail Moviehouse, and Regal Biltmore Grande. Also available on HBO Max through Dec. 19.
(Photo: Warner Bros.)
