Review: King Richard Is An Uplifting, Inspirational Film For The Holidays

By Megan Bianco, Times of San Diego

December 24, 2021

Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard is a standard rags-to-riches biopic on paper that is completely saved by likable actors and characters.

Will Smith has said he would often use Tom Cruise’s stardom as a template for his own career, and almost three decades into his success, he must be doing something right because he still has enough charisma and presence to sell a movie.

In traditional fashion, the holiday season is also Oscar season which in turn is also biopic season. King Richard is one of the many period dramas released in this tail-end of 2021 and probably the most uplifting.

In Compton, CA, and West Palm Beach, FL, throughout the early 1990s, we see the story of tennis superstar sisters Venus and Serena Williams (Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton), but through the perspective of their father and manager Richard (Smith). Richard believes he has not one, but two daughters who have potential to be the next big success story in sports, yet doesn’t want them to get eaten up by fame and excess.

Some of his colleagues, such as big-shot coaches Paul Cohen (Tony Goldwyn) and Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal), think he’s too stubborn and overly controlling, which will hold the young girls’ talent back. But Richard believes his unique, completely independent route for Venus and Serena’s paths can lead the way. Aunjanue Ellis co-stars as Richard’s wife and the girls’ mother.

Scripted by Zach Baylin and featuring Smith and the real Williams sisters as credited producers, King Richard sticks to the paint-by-numbers biopic structure and hits all the cues we’ve seen before in sports movies based on real people. What really keeps the story going are the performances and chemistry from Smith, Sidney and Singleton.

Smith has proven time and again that, even when his film decisions flip-flop in quality, he is capable of being both the screen hero and the award contender. Here we get more of the latter, and not in a contrived way.

The young actresses have enough natural delivery and charm to make this their breakthrough film, and Ellis holds the family together as the sensible one. Along with an empowering theme song — “Be Alive” by Beyoncé — King Richard is a feel-good time at the movie theater for all ages.

Times of San Diego is an independent online news site covering the San Diego metropolitan area. Our journalists report on politics, crime, business, sports, education, arts, the military and everyday life in San Diego. No subscription is required, and you can sign up for a free daily newsletter with a summary of the latest news.