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Written by: Zach Baylin
Directed by: Reinaldo Marcus Green
Starring: Will Smith, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Jon Bernthal, Aunjanue Ellis
Rated: PG-13
Plot
A look at how Richard Williams, father to tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams pushed them to success.
Verdict
It's difficult not to wonder where this takes liberties, but it's a moving story about family, nature versus nurture, and what it takes to make a dream succeed. It is a sports movie, but manages to avoid a lot of the typical cliches because this isn't about the athletes, but the man behind them. This doesn't ignore Richard's ego and faults. He succeeded because of and in spite of his attitude. That's the strange thing about this movie, it's about a person that wins by proxy. He's the protagonist, but his success is measured by his daughters, who didn't have a choice in Richard's plans.
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Review
This starts with a voice over which is my pet peeve. Voice over is a lazy way to add exposition, but thankfully this only occurs at the beginning to set up Richard Williams's (Will Smith) plan for his children. He saw how lucrative women's tennis was while watching television and decided to have two more daughters and turn them into tennis champions. He claims to have mapped their entire future. I have to wonder how he decided the gender of his future children, but the movie doesn't cover that. That's a component of this movie. Richard talks about this plan, but we never see it. Is there a plan or is the talk of a plan just a way to feed his ego?
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| Will Smith plays Richard Williams |
Richard pushed Venus and Serena (Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton) hard, and it seems they never had a choice. He made his dream their toil. How hard is too hard to push children? Richard got results, but you wonder the cost. The movie doesn't really approach that aspect of it. Plenty of kids are pushed hard and burn out. While Richard is concerned about burning out his children, it's only when someone else is involved. Richard doesn't think he can push them too far. Everything we see in the movie is that Venus and Serena love to play tennis, but at some point all kids would rather be kids than have their father make them practice tennis every day. They didn't have a choice in accepting this mantle Richard chose for them.
Richard is dedicated. He knows the girls need to go to the next level with a professional coach, but he can't afford to pay for a coach. Everyone tells him no. It's difficult for anyone to make it, much less two kids from Compton. The movie avoids this, but part of it has to be race. Tennis is a white sport. For a father to claim not one, but both of his daughters are going to be great seems like ego talking. It was, but the kids actually were great too. Richard is a bit of a hustler, but he had to be.
This movie certainly feels like Will Smith pushing for an Oscar. Smith is a great actor, and this has more than a few scenes that seem crafted to submit to the academy. It doesn't hurt that biopics seems to be a favorite at awards season. It's difficult not to wonder what's true and what's not. Some aspects of the story seem to coincide too perfectly.
Are athletes born or built? Venus and Serena's parents were both athletes, but Richard managed to have two world class athletes. Were they born with the ability or was it training? Ultimately it has to be a bit of both.
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| Saniyya Sidney plays Venus Williams |
Richard has never done anything standard. He irritates coaches because Richard acts like he knows everything despite never playing tennis. Venus and Serena get signed and the entire family is riding their potential success. There's nothing wrong with that, but this never addresses the pressure that can create. Richard has Venus and Serena stop playing junior matches. That is an atypical route to going pro. When Richard was their coach he pushed them to practice every day rain or shine. Once Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal) becomes their coach, Richard constantly undermines Rick. That irritates Rick who obviously has a monetary stake in it, but Richard does too. He's living life on Rick's dime. It really seems like he's using the kids for his own ends. Richard always wants it his way. He pushes to get his daughter an interview, but then objects when the reporter asks questions Richard doesn't like. We see him use anyone and everyone if it gets him what he wants. In interviews, Richard micro-manages to get the results he wants. A big part of this story is the rise of Richard's ego. He is the center of the movie with his daughters as the pawns to get him what he wants; money, power, and respect.
Venus and Serena are incredibly successful, but this movie is about Richard. Richard is certainly hypocritical and his ego is huge. It's a great audience proxy moment when other characters finally tell Richard off. The question remains of how successful Venus and Serena would have been. Without Richard they never would have played tennis. He certain nurtured that skill, but without their natural ability, Richard wouldn't have been able to live off of them as he did.
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