It's In the Plan - King Richard

Will Smith has been one of the handful of most famous people on the planet for over 25 years. That makes his ability to do what he does in this movie all the more remarkable, as he creates a character and not a caricature, while layering on enough performance to de-emphasize the fact that he is Will Smith. The remarkable thing about the Williams sisters is how they made it all seem so pre-ordained, which was in no small part due to Richard Williams. Will Smith captures that sure-footedness with charm, wit and grace on his way to what looks like potential Oscar glory. And does so in a movie that could have ultimately come off the rails in a number of different directions, but manages to do justice to one of the more incredible narratives of our lifetimes.

This is the greatest story in North American sports. You could argue against that, but not convincingly. Two Black sisters from Compton become two of the greatest athletes in the world in a sport wit an almost non-existent record of diversity in its past. They accomplished all of this through guidance from their father, Richard Williams (played by Will Smith), who planned it all out before they were born and set out to give his daughters what he though was the perfect upbringing to be champions.

And while the long arc is well-understood, the film dives into the family dynamics and steps along the way. Issues like Richard’s decision to keep his daughters out of the traditional junior tournaments all the pros before them played in and the marital strife caused by his domineering personality were just a couple of the highlights. The story feels familiar because we know it so well by this point, but that doesn’t mean it fails to find new ways to resonate.

Sometimes, the greatest compliment you can pay a film is that there were so many ways it could have gone wrong and didn’t. Sports story with bold characters and fraught with boundless racial issues bubbling just under the surface makes this a high degree of difficulty. What Reinaldo Marcus Green manages to pull off is a deft slight of hand that makes the difficult look easy and the easy look impressive. He takes thee familiar beats of the story and subverts them, so that instead of a ho-hum stroll, we get something closer to a symphony. Unexpected notes and everyone working in concert. When the neighborhood gangsters turn from intimidating the family to protecting them, there’s no elaborate hand-holding; Green just trusts the audience to understand the nuances.

And while Will Smith will get most of the accolades, the entire cast is exemplary. Aunjanue Ellis is particularly outstanding as the maternal head of the family. Oracene is a force and Ellis does her justice, going toe-to-toe with Smith in multiple scenes and giving the movie an emotional core it would have otherwise lacked. Tennis is always a back and forth and thanks to her, King Richard serves it.

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