King Richard * * * ½

I'm not much of a tennis fan, but you'd have to have been living in a cave to not be aware of the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena - and their rather colourful Dad, Richard Williams.

This is a well formulated, beautifully acted, rags to riches story. It's probably sanitised to buggery, but that's okay.  I don't need to know about any serious conflict within their family.  That's their business.  It would only spoil the feel-good aspect of this story.  

What we have is a guy with a loving family who lives in Compton LA.  Not the most salubrious suburb in that city I am told.  He has five daughters, three are from a previous marriage. Two are from his marriage with his current wife, Brandi.  Before they were even born he decided he would make them the best women tennis players in the world and he drew up a 75 page plan to see it through.

Game Set Match - every damn time!

Will Smith injects his own charm into the Willams character so that we are quickly endeared to Richard Williams and his relentless hustling.  Getting a high ranking coach to notice your "gifted" child is no easy task. He makes, video's, makes brochures, door knocks, invades, turns up without invitation and finally gets his girls noticed. Soon they are on the Junior Tennis Circuit and even sooner Venus cleans up, which is fun to watch as the circuit is mostly made up of priviliged white princess's.

The two young actresses who play Venus and Serena are absolutely charming. You can't help but cheer for them.

By the time the girls are in their early teens they are accepted by one of the best coaching schools in the USA.  It's a system I knew nothing about and its quite insightful.  Almost like a record company investing in a band, giving them all the trappings of fame and glamour along with the finest of producers and backing band in the hope that all this will be pay off, these tennis schools give them accomodation, food, endless training, health cover etc, in the hope they'll get pay back.  It's an investment.  As we all know, with the Williams sisters it paid off in spades.

It's is an extrordinary story that didn't need to be invented.  It was already written. King Richard tells it well.