The problem with The Williams Method is the coach. Or rather Will Smith (review)

France 2 is broadcasting this Sunday the film that caused so much noise at the 2022 Oscars.

Will Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Williams Method, which is scheduled this weekend for the first time on free-to-air television. A cinema evening which sticks to the sporting news of the moment, since the Roland-Garros tournament is in full swing and this film is inspired by the youth of the two champions, Venus and Serena Williams.

What history will have remembered from the release of this film in the cinema is, however, nothing glorious: a few minutes before receiving his statuette for best actor at the 2022 Oscars, the star of Men in Black and of Bad Boyhe hit the host of the evening, Chris Rock, in the face, following a bad joke towards his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. This gesture overshadowed the rest of the evening, pushing the organizers to review their rules and Will Smith to publicly apologize.

Will Smith apologizes to Chris Rock: 'I'm ashamed'

On the occasion of this event broadcast of the biopic of the father of the Williams sisters, we are republishing our review.

As sometimes in sport, the problem of The Williams Method, it's the coach. Or rather Will Smith. Grimacing, tearful, whining: the star takes all the light and never manages to convey the crazy complexity of Father Williams. This genius, by turns paranoid, megalomaniacal, mythical and possessive, had become a hero of the black community not only by forging two international tennis icons, but also by ensuring the success story of a family from Compton. As soon as the camera lands on him, the star does his show, monothematic and uninspired, never managing to reproduce the powerful fascination of the daron. It's all the more a shame since the two actresses who play Venus and Serena – Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton – are exceptional (natural, funny and ambitious) and Jon Bernthal plays the good-natured mustachioed coach to perfection. child.

Jon Bernthal: “I have boundless admiration for Alain Chabat”