King Richard
Year: 2021
Rating: PG-13
Length: 144 minutes / 2.40 hours
It’s a little surprising to see two critically acclaimed movies about talented children released in the same year. While CODA (2021) shows us what it’s like to have a family who doesn’t initially support a child’s talents, King Richard (2021) highlights the amount of effort and sacrifice that dedicated parents give to their children when they recognize their talent early on. Granted, not every talented child with parental backing grows up to be extremely successful, let alone having this happen twice. And yet, Venus and Serena Williams are proof that it can happen.
I found it odd how a movie that follows the early success of the Williams sisters focused so much on their father, Richard Williams (Will Smith), who made it happen by sheer determination and will. It makes sense considering how young these two prodigies were, but there’s still a little sour taste to it, considering how their success was always part of Richard’s “plan” to pull them up out of their poverty in Compton. I mean, talk about pressure on two young girls to succeed. I only hope other helicopter parents won’t take this movie to heart and push their kids to succeed past their limits.
At its core, King Richard is an underdog story. It’s nerve-wracking watching these girls go up against players who are well above their playing level on paper. You get a flutter in your chest when you want a better coach to take a chance on these nobodies. You want to root for Venus because of all she’s been through. This movie plays out a lot like many other sports movies for these reasons, but if the formula isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
A case study for successful, engaged parenting, I give King Richard 4.0 stars out of 5.
