Who doesn’t know of Venus and Serena Williams? Legitimately, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t at least heard of the sisters turned Tennis pros who are arguably two of the finest athletes of all time, let alone just in Tennis. Yet, instead of taking the typical bio-pic approach by telling their story by showing who they are, the sisters, who produced the film, writer Zach Baylin and director Reinaldo Marcus Green (“Monsters and Men,” “Joe Bell”) have opted instead to tell their story by focusing on their father.
Will Smith (“Men in Black,” “The Pursuit of Happyness”) plays the sisters’ father, Richard, with a subdued kind of intelligence and bravado. He’s the kind of man that clearly has the wheels in his brain turning at all times, even if it doesn’t seem immediately evident. Smith delivers a nuanced performance, with deep emotion and the constant sense that he’s hiding more than he shows. It creates a fascinating complex character, one that constantly teeters between easy to love and easy to hate.
For as excellent as Smith is though, the film is absolutely stolen from him by Saniyya Sidney (“Fast Color,” “The Passage”) and Demi Singleton (“Godfather of Harlem”) playing Venus and Serena, respectively. Sidney is a joyful burst of exuberant energy, showcasing a big smile and big confidence at almost every turn. Meanwhile, Singleton is a bit more downplayed, but nevertheless has a sense of confidence that few can match. When the two are on screen together, they’re electric, delivering a truly honest portrayal of sibling bonds that few can match.
In terms of supporting cast, everyone is excellent but few get a chance to shine like Smith, Sidney, or Singleton. Aunjanue Ellis (“Lovecraft Country,” “Ray”) plays Brandy Price, Venus and Serena’s mother, and she thankfully gets a good amount of time to shine. This is not an example of a mother existing in the background just to course correct the father, she gets as much training time with the girls and little moments of beauty and warmth as Smith does. Jon Bernthal (“Ford v. Ferrari,” “The Punisher”) continues to show a different side to his typical action film roots here as Rick Macci, the sisters’ sponsor and coach. He’s thick mustache and thick accent help to hide an exacerbated but kind individual frequently elated by the girls and exhausted by Richard.
This cast is essential, as are many in a good biopic, because unfortunately the film hits a crossroads between sports and biopic cliches. It's hard to judge the film too much on these, because what seems like easy examples of sports film cliches, like the incredible talent of a young player, are just how good the Williams sisters are in reality. Even when switching it up by focusing on Richard, they’re still present, and turn the film into a more formulaic piece than it otherwise could have been.
There’s also the issue of Richard. While it's hard to criticize the choice to make him the central character and the decision to tell the sisters’ story through his story, it nevertheless feels like we’re watching the tale of two incredible women by proxy of the man who “made them great”. Again, it's hard to criticize this idea because they were largely the ones who helped shape this concept, and the film does smartly course correct away from this idea in the latter half, making a conscious decision to pull back from this idea, even without commenting on it.
Yet, for all its cliches and a few iffy storytelling choices, “King Richard” understands so clearly why people love these kinds of stories. It's hard not to be inspired in some way by this tale, and hearing Serena say “I'd like other people to be like me” during an interview at 11 years old is staggering. It would seem cheesy and heavy handed if not for the incredible abilities of these two women and their father that brought this confidence to reality.
This is the kind of movie that, through its performances, its storytelling beats, and its overall feeling, puts emotion above everything else. It earns its runtime by showcasing plenty of moments where Richard, Venus, and Serena all have to choose what to do next. It doesn’t just funnel them from game to game, from low-income to fame. It purposefully showcases the choices they’re asked to make and the thought process behind each one. It’s a movie with a big gooey heart shaped center and it's never afraid to show it.
“King Richard” has a couple of minor issues, like an intersection of sports and biopic film cliches and the decision to tell the sisters’ story via their father will likely be discussed for a while, but in terms of the film itself, the performances of Smith, Sidney, and Singleton are just incredible. “King Richard” is an incredible, if predictable, story and you’d have to be dead inside to not in some way be inspired or smile at the incredible talent and tale of these two sisters. 4/5
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