Will Smith is very moving in his portrayal of Richard Williams, whose seemingly impossible plan to achieve tennis superstardom with two of his children, his gifted daughters Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton), famously succeeded. So moving, it’s pretty easy to be tolerant of the more formulaic sports biopic aspects of King Richard, currently playing in theaters and on HBO Max — the tense early matches that must be played against all odds and won, the awed faces as coaches realize the potential greatness of the young players, and so on. These typical scenes are given added kick by the extremity of the case: As we know going into the film, Richard Williams isn’t just bragging or deluding himself — he actually has in his charge the tennis version of “the next Michael Jordan,” or as Williams puts it, “the next two” Michael Jordans.

The problem the film has to overcome is how to invest suspense in a narrative when the audience knows how it comes out. Even people who aren’t into sports know about the dazzling careers of the famous Venus and Serena Williams. Perhaps this accounts for the lackluster box office showing of the film over Thanksgiving weekend.

Or it could be that the very solution to that narrative problem is what’s keeping people away, at a time when they’d rather be watching the lightest of all film fare, Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Encanto, the new Disney animated musical. It’s a shame, because the solution seems like a smart one. Screenwriter Zach Baylin and director Reinaldo Marcus Green wisely focus on the more obscure and troubling — but still incredible — figure of Richard Williams, who is driven to overcome a lifetime of harrowing racism in making sure his daughters succeed.