King Richard

[VoR]

Another Best Picture nominee and likely a Best Actor win for Will Smith.

This is basically your standard glossy, sentimental but uplifting Will Smith movie. I'm no expert on the Williams Sisters, and as such I did find this story of their rise quite interesting, but it really felt like it was skimming over the potentially really meaty stuff (Venus initially eclipsing Serena, Richard's infidelities, how the two girls felt about basically anything.) Maybe he really was that wonderful, but there was a definite air of hagiography.

That said, Smith is obviously very good at this stuff, and if he is due a career-Oscar, I'm not mad at him getting it for this compared to some of the manipulative crap he's put his name to in recent years.

 

[Phoenix]

I thought this was a solid biography/feel good film. The girls playing Venus and Serena were outstanding and it’s not as hacky as some of the music biopics that come out around the same time each year.

 

[Peekaboo]

Obviously I'm not watching as I'm not that partial to MAUDLIN AMERICANA but I'm a bit troubled by the fact that they have the story of one of the best and most famous/iconic athletes of all time to tell and instead we get a film about how great HER DAD is.

I know he had to sacrifice a lot and face a lot of hardship and racism to get them both on the treadmill to success but it's not like SHE didn't either, and look at what she has achieved. Whenever we have to ENDURE all those HAGIOGRAPHIES about MEN who go on and change the world or whatever, the wife and the mother are always the SUPPORTING ROLE to the BIG HERO, whereas this guy gets his whole picture and his daughter, arguably the best female tennis player of all time, gets to support his story! OKAY.

 

[Phoenix]

I mean it’s a movie produced by his daughters about their dad.

 

[VoR]

It’s much more about Venus than Serena anyway. The latter is mostly just in the background aside from a few scenes.

 

[BoysForSeles]

I never expected to see the words “go fuck yourself Arantxa (Sanchez) Vicario” on Moopy

Anyway I watched this at the weekend not expecting to get much out of it as I’m already extremely familiar with the whole story. I thought the young actresses were excellent and Will Smith was on point the whole way through too, especially the scene with Venus after her first ever loss.

There were a few tennis inaccuracies I was able to ignore. The family side of Richard ignored some indiscretions of his, understandable as the family were involved, but did hint at the rougher edge to him. Oracene was more involved with the girls’ tennis than this ever suggested.

I did lol at the use of Jennifer Capriati’s actual mugshot, if she sees this she’ll be fuming Overall I enjoyed this but think there’s plenty other probably more interesting stories this family could tell.

 

[rhythmbandit]

Really good performance from Will Smith, I do think it does a disservice to the Williams sister's story by skimming over the their late teens/early 20s years where they really rose to fame though.

 

[Christian]

God this was terrible. There is just so much wrong with it but Will Smith's one note performance and having the focus all on him, rather than Serena and Venus, are the frontrunners. Add the braindead biopic structure, the glossing over this chap's actual behaviour and the made for TV visuals and I could barely get through it. Aunjanue Ellis and Saniyya Sidney come out of it pretty well but that's about it.

Also, Beyoncé's song is bottom drawer stuff - why do the Oscars even bother with this ridiculous category anyway?

 

[Suedehead]

Watching it now
It's ok but the Cinderella scene is the worst