King Richard (2021)

• Year: 2021
• Released: 19 Nov 2021
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Won 1 Oscar. 46 wins & 133 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9620288/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/king_richard
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/king-richard
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 720p
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Biography, Drama, Sport
• Runtime: 144 min
• Writer: Zach Baylin
• Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
• Cast: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Bernthal
• Keywords: based on true story, based on a true story, family, father, tennis,

	7.5/10
	76/100
	90% – Critics
	98% – Audience

King Richard Storyline

Armed with a clear vision and a brazen 78-page plan, Richard Williams is determined to write his daughters, Venus and Serena, into history. Training on Compton, California’s neglected tennis courts–rain or shine–the girls are shaped by their father’s unyielding commitment and their mother’s balanced perspective and keen intuition, defying the seemingly insurmountable odds and prevailing expectations laid before them. Based on the true story that will inspire the world, “King Richard” follows the uplifting journey of a family whose unwavering resolve and unconditional belief ultimately delivers two of the world’s greatest sports legends.

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King Richard Movie Reviews

A little bit too much Dr. Jekyll and not enough Mr. Hyde in this tennis dad hagiography

The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of hagiography is “biography of saints or venerated persons.” And haven’t director Reinaldo Green and star Will Smith done that here with their portrait of Richard Williams, father of the Williams sisters, two of the most famous players in the history of women’s tennis? Well maybe not completely but the glass here is certainly a lot more half full than half empty.

In some respects, Zach Baylin’s screenplay does a decent enough job pointing out a number of Richard Williams’ admirable qualities. First of all there’s his courage in the face of adversity-not only having to endure physical assaults by gang members on the rough streets where the family lived in Compton, California, but also the whole history which we learn about, facing off against racists in the deep South while he was growing up (including the Ku Klux Klan).

And another extremely admirable quality was the fact that Richard did not embrace the militant ideology espoused in certain sectors of the African-American community advocating segregation. He was determined to have his daughters participate as equal competitors in a sport usually thought of as the domain of white privilege. Taking his daughters around to introduce them to various high echelon movers and shakers in the tennis community, took a lot of guts.

The portrayal of Richard’s treatment of Venus and Serena is a double-edged sword. Again on the admirable side, there’s that excellent scene in which he has his daughters watch the Disney movie Cinderella in order to teach them humility. And later he gets a great deal of flack for not allowing Venus to play in the juniors for three years after she racks up a staggering number of victories.

Richard is basically accused of being overprotective by his wife Oracene (Aunjanue Ellis) but his desire to have the daughters lead a “normal” life did prevent them from ending up like young tennis star Jennifer Capriati who was arrested while associating with unsavory drug-addicted characters.

But there was another side of the overprotective dad that perhaps was played down in the film-and that is how Richard was a ruthless disciplinarian who subjected his daughters to a constant regimen of unrelenting practice. There is a good scene in the film where the friction over this issue with Oracene reaches its apotheosis-Richard drives away leaving his daughters in a store and expects them to walk back three miles to their home. All because he felt they were bragging about their success on the tennis courts.

Fortunately his wife persuades him to return to the store and pick the girls up. There’s another scene in which Child Welfare authorities were called to the home in which an anonymous neighbor accused Richard of child abuse (accusations of forcing the girls to study too hard and practice tennis for too long). While completely exaggerated, there may have been some truth in the neighbors’ perception that Richard was “pushing” the girls a little too much.

On the other hand, it could be argued (probably by Richard himself) that without having “pushed” the girls, they would never have become tennis champions.

What’s missing from the portrait here is Richard’s unsavory side. A strict disciplinarian, he hardly loses his temper at all. It’s a very favorable view of a man whose pushy demeanor (and ego) alienated many. There’s also the issue of shady business dealings as well as infidelity., which are referenced but downplayed.

Nothing is mentioned about his first wife and the children he had with her. One of his daughters from the first marriage no longer talks to him accusing Richard of abandoning the first wife and providing no child support for the family.

King Richard proves to be a mixed bag. I learned a good number of things about Richard Williams that appear to be reasonably historically accurate. His obsession with making his daughters into stars (hatched even before they were born) is a complicated issue and one can make several arguments for and against.

But I think there is the issue of celebrity worship in our culture that the film unfortunately promotes. Venus and Serena’s exploits are the stuff of legend I suppose in the tennis world. But the way they’re treated here (as well as Richard’s hand in molding and guiding them), one can say they’re being held up as almost God-like figures.

Part of the mythology is to build the Williams up as very humble people guided by a caring, humble father. One can easily see in this “authorized” biopic that Richard was by no means the almost saintly figure being pawned off here. And do you really believe Richard’s dark side didn’t affect his daughters at all? Recall what African-American tennis player Sloane Stephens said about Serena: ” people’s perception of her as being so friendly is not reality.”

It’s instructive to realize that athletic success is ephemeral. How many people today recall the names of the tennis stars even as recent as the 70s and the 80s, when the sport of tennis became a worldwide phenomenon? Among many younger people, probably not many.

Will Smith does a good job capturing Richard William’s driven spirit and Aunjanue Ellis as Oracene emphatically makes her case as the neglected wife. I also enjoyed the various actors portraying characters involved in the business of tennis-vultures ready to swoop down and reap the benefits of the Williams sisters’ newfound success.

Glossed Over

97+% of young athletes who focus on a sport dream for the future end up poorer in two respects. First, there’s little life value in all that time spent on playing ball vs studying when the game ends after high school or maybe first year or so in college. Even college is a waterslide of just a few fluff courses helped w/very friendly ghost writing tutors (I know, as a graduate assistant, I oversaw that process.). Second, is the loss of exposure to a wealth of worldly experience that an educational focus would have brought.

Which brings us to the sisters. Even at that time I was concerned by the character building effect of a controlling parent, i.e. Removing from public education, on the sisters. The error, the falsity, is that we impose the monetary success of the few % on the 97+% multitude with lost opportunities.

A seemingly complex character study remains an uncritical celebration of success and hard work

It’s hard not to be aware of the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, who have achieved great success in the world of professional tennis. Even as a film buff from Finland with no interest whatsoever in sports, I have not escaped their names in American pop culture that reeks to the screens, both mobile and otherwise, across the Atlantic. There is thus quite understandably great appeal in telling the inspirational story behind the young world champions. “King Richard” (2021), directed by a relatively unknown filmmaker Reinaldo Marcus Green, does just this. It tells the Williams story by focusing on the father of the family, Richard Williams, played by Will Smith, who is hell-bent on getting his daughters the success he thinks they deserve.

The story takes place in the 1990’s when Richard pushes his daughters to practice tennis every day after school. His unwavering dedication combined with the girls’ talent eventually lands Serena and Venus a trainer, then an agent, and finally a chance to play at the top level. The film follows their journey from the poor streets of Compton to the sunshine state of Florida where they are to turn into world-famous superstars after the credits roll.

On the surface, “King Richard” appears to be a biographical character study of a complex person, Richard, the father of the tennis-playing sisters, who is both a loving father and a persistent trainer determined to make his daughters achieve success. This also seems to be the general critical consensus on the film which has, especially for Smith’s nuanced performance, attracted a decent level of acclaim from the press.

However, I think this evaluation neglects something quite crucial. For, the way I see it, “King Richard” is not a complex study of a flawed character. To me, it is instead essentially a sentimental and uncritical celebration of a character doing everything he can to reach success. Some might raise an eyebrow or two at the accusation of not being critical: “King Richard” certainly contains scenes where the protagonist makes decisions for his daughters without consulting them or his wife; there are also scenes where he is conniving with the trainers and the agents he lands for Serena and Venus. Yet it is clear from start to finish that Richard does all of these things with his daughters’ best interest in mind, or so the film seems to maintain. Although there are scenes that purportedly depict the protagonist’s complexities, these so-called flaws never connect to the thematic matter of the film: Richard’s dedication and determination to reach success. In a word, Richard’s relentless determination is never looked at critically.

“King Richard” spends a lot of time showing us hard work and its successful results, but the film never stops to critically reflect on that quest itself. Why is it so important for Richard to achieve success for his daughters? The beating of Rodney King broadcast on TV news provides a social clue, and there is a scene where his wife seems to lay Richard’s personal motivation out for him, but the film never casts a harsher eye at Richard. I wonder: why not just focus on building a safe and happy environment for his children if he only has their best interest in mind? It is as if there was material to be further discussed and developed in the film and probably its script, but in the end “King Richard” just asks its viewer to join in its naïve celebration of success and hard work – without asking the looming critical questions about the price of that success. In my opinion, “King Richard” just spends its lengthy runtime at worshiping its master.

One might argue that there just is no need for such questions about the price of success, and the film is indeed backed up by the Williams sisters as producers, but then the further question remains: why tell this story in the first place? The film’s schoolboy-like enthusiasm for hard work and success does not result in exactly exhilarating storytelling. To me at least, there is nothing interesting about a simple story about hard-working people achieving success. It’s dry, it’s conventional, and it’s naive. At its heart, “King Richard” is a film with nothing to say except lame aphorisms you can buy at the grocery store to hang as quote boards on your wall.