King Richard is an old-fashioned Hollywood biopic, with all the sentimentality and mythologizing that that entails. What’s surprising is how the film turns that to its advantage. Will Smith (perhaps the last of America’s bankable movie stars) plays Richard Williams, the dedicated and disciplined father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams. The sisters’ names are etched into sports history, while Richard has often been a charming sideshow, a smile-inducing post script in the background of athletic dominance. While his actions were always entertaining, there has always been a sense (with good help from the media’s portrayal) that he was a little looney – as if Venus and Serena persevered despite his antics. King Richard doesn’t shy away from that criticism, but also puts a lot of leg-work toward disproving it.

Smith’s performance is a combination of dogged mimicry and heartfelt monologuing; he has about a dozen Oscar clips to choose from. He has always been more showman than actor, but he’s proven his chops when the occasion has called for it (Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness are films that only work because of his degree of commitment). King Richard is certainly one of those times. The role – which requires specific speech patterns and a gimpy walking gait – is made for the kind of awards season attention that movie stars crave. All that said, Smith does create something like a real character here, and he gives the film what it truly needs: a high-wattage performance that everyone else can revolve around.

Director Reinaldo Marcus Green is known more for indie fare, but his films often center on families and the drama unearthed within them. Green makes this central to King Richard as well, with Smith’s father figure frequently stressing family bond and the importance of self-worth. Richard’s sizable ego is a noted thing, but Green focuses instead on how that ego is a tool to take pressure off his children. It’s a narrative trick that lets Richard Williams off the hook for some of the more unorthodox decisions he made with his daughters (and also his apparent lack of attention to his other children). King Richard is executive produced by Venus and Serena, so it’s futile to expect a more exacting critique, but Green is a smart enough storyteller to lionize Richard and humanize him simultaneously.

The film is an end-to-end crowd pleaser. At over 140 minutes, its cycle of scenes become a bit redundant and cliché, but Smith’s effortless presence keeps boredom at bay. As Venus and Serena’s mother, Oracene, Aunjanue Ellis is given her own showcase. Like all good actresses shoehorned into imperfect roles, Ellis is forced to make different version of the same speech (Oracene appears to be the only person who can give Richard serious reproach) but still manages to make the character someone truly alive. King Richard overcomes its run-of-the-mill script with effective acting and much heartfelt speechmaking. It’s the kind of star-led Hollywood awards bait that I can get behind.

 

Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green