La Méthode Williams

The feel-good movie of the year.

Incredible performance from Will Smith, maybe his best ever. Lots of funny moments. The showing at the LFF had the audience up on their feet applauding.

The only real criticism would be it lacks grit at times - Richard Williams is painted as a teddy bear when, in reality, he has a well-documented dark side. The also comes with the inevitable sports movie saccharine gloss.

And I'd ignore the current low rating on here, it's the result of a ton of 1-star reviews made in protest of Will Smith being for the lead role.

King Richard

Some elements were good but to be honest much of the movie was made with the agreement and the involvement of Richard Williams and is quite an airbrushing of the history to make him appear in a good light.

Alarm bells, you have to ask yourself why does a biographical movie start with Richard Williams being 38 years of age, practically middle aged, because what went before is either irrelevant or unsavoury.

The movie started with a happy couple and 5 young girls, a close loving nuclear family, both parents working hard, one a nurse the other a security guard, looking out for their children but living in a rough part of town. However this film omitted to say he already had 5 children, that he abandoned, with another women whom he was divorced from. Of the 5 girls in the family that was shown only Venus and Serena were his and why they were chosen by him as money making machines. I might add he has as least 10 biological children in total as well as the three adopted ones shown here.

The movie then leaves the impression they struggled to be recognised and inferred this was racially motivated. Venus was made at 4 and half to play tennis on the public courts as part of the "master plan" and as early as 7 she had already been recognised and was being coached locally. You can't be overlooked as a 7 year old, this is twaddle!

The movie instigation is based on this remarkable "insight" by Richard that he "foretold" the greatness of these two children, perhaps even before they were born. Hardly remarkable, in reality most parents have a master plan and his detailed history seems to have been constructed retrospectively.

Will Smith and Aunjanue Ellis, who played his wife held this together with the tennis, Venus and Serena playing minor roles. The whole movie was overly earnest where was the humour in all of this, Richard constantly said "enjoy yourself", but no one ever seemed to!

Overall, the movie is fatally flawed, it is not quite the American dream comes good, the history is distorted, the racial elements exaggerated, the fight to have their talent recognised fabricated, the back story omitted etc etc.

Overall, as entertainment it's a 6 outta 10, Will Smith was very good, as a historically accurate record is a 1 outta 10 from me.

Smith fans should be pleased with this film. It is a good show case for the actor. It is one of Smith's better performances as well. It's almost real acting from the star. The film is perfectly pleasant because of Smith alone.

I however am not overly fond of the film for two reasons. First, the direction and parts of the screenplay are dramatically inert. The climax of the film feels much more like a reversal of fortune and not an ending. And while the direction is technically polished it is uninspired. Second, the decision to frame the story as Richard's is decidedly odd. Some of the material is refreshing in a sports film context but Richard Williams should not overshadow his daughters because they are the ones who did the main work. The film robs the William sisters of a lot of agency-it feels gross in retrospect because it is clear that Smith shaped the story to make the film a vehicle to win an Oscar.

The film works and I think tennis people will get a lot from it. But the film is basically just a really good lead performance from a character who should have been in a supporting role.

Sure its a well made movie, but I have my issues with the direction. Mainly that it just feels void of character. It felt more like a sitcom, with a very streamlined narrative. Its very clear what emotion you need to feel at what point. The music is very blunt, and there is very little room for interpertation.

Thats my main problem with these very american movies. Its a constant barrage of 'now feel sad' , 'now feel happy' ect.

But apart from that, sure its not a bad movie. And I do have to give credit to its pacing. With a 2,5 hour runtime, the movie didn't feel like it was draggin its feet.

So all in all, competant movie, but awfull directing.

5/10: hmm.

Will Smith delivers a tour de force performance in this engaging family drama as the overbearing father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams. It's a beautifully shot film with strong performances overall. My only gripe is that this is not a biopic about the Williams sisters. Instead the film chooses to focus on its main star - Will Smith - as the helicopter parent. Venus Williams gets some screen time on her rise to fame, but Serena is inexplicably ignored in the plot despite being arguably the more famous star of the two.