Better Man (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – The biographical film about the British pop singer Robbie Williams.

My Take – Yet another weekend, and yet another music biopic has hit the screens. And since, I’ve never been a massive fan of British pop star Robbie Williams (even though I have enjoyed a lot of his songs) or his former boy band, Take That, I wasn’t particularly all that interested.

But rather than going down the overly trodden traditional route, director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), probably in a creative attempt to rival Piece by Piece (2024) director Morgan Neville’s unique decision to tell the Pharell Williams story in Lego Animation form, replaces Williams with a CGI chimpanzee in an otherwise human cast.

And while from afar, it sounds like a confusingly annoying gimmick, and perhaps fitting for an entertainer who can often be quite annoying himself. Surprisingly, the twist not only pays off, it is also one of the main reasons the film works as well as it does. Particularly considering that we live in a time when lives of musicians have become an easy IP for lazy film-makers and indulgent stars.

Offering a first-hand gut wrenching look at how awful fame can be in all its inglorious brutal reality, the full-blown musical extravaganza is hilarious, raw, heartbreaking and heartwarming all in one. It’s hard to think of another music biopic, at least in recent times, as honest and heartfelt as this.

Yes, at times, it takes itself too seriously, however, unlike most biopics, director Gracey, and first-time co-writers Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson, don’t try to gloss over the more unsavory of moments or pretend the man is perfect. The result is an exposed yet very entertaining portrayal of a complicated man who has faced his demons and come out with a tale of optimism.

Narrated by Williams himself and told using top-end, hyper-expression motion-capture technology, the story follows Robert Williams (played by Jonno Davies), who belonging to a working-class background in Stoke is exposed very early to the fact that fame is everything. Particularly from his neglectful father (Steve Pemberton), who went one day for a football match whilst he was a child and never came back, leaving him with his mum Janet (Kate Mulvany) and adoring nan (Alison Steadman) to live a pretty much hand to mouth existence.

But being a born showman and a master of sheer cockiness, Robert finds a place in the rising boy band, Take That, playing second fiddle not only to songwriter Gary Barlow (Jake Simmance), but also manager Nigel Martin-Smith (Damon Herriman), who blesses Robert with a new scamp moniker, ‘Robbie’, and is generally unkind.

But unknown to anyone, Williams has his own demons to contend with. And with success comes drink, drugs, tantrums and generally spoilt brattishness. Even when he splits from the band, starts dating All Saints’ soon-to-be long-suffering Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno), and gets on the right end of an £80 million record deal, Robbie can’t help but be his own worst enemy.

Simply told, whether or not you identify as a Robbie Williams fan, there is something for everyone to enjoy in this film as it strips away the bravado of the pop star to tell a tale of abandonment, alcoholism, addiction, helplessness & forgiveness. It’s not only director Gracey’s electric style and the central gimmick that make the film feel like an upgrade, it’s the disarming honesty of Williams and how he’s allowed himself to be portrayed.

Usually, biopics tend to be eye-rollingly flattering, mostly ignoring the negative light. Here, we see him be a shitty boyfriend, a thoughtless son, a terrible friend and an unpleasant person to work with. Most surprisingly, the film doesn’t explain it all away as the result of childhood trauma or his excessive drinking or drug habit.

Then, of course, there is the monkey. There’s something about the use of the chimpanzee to characterize Robbie Williams that makes this quite a visceral watch. The humanity in the monkeys face, complete with Robbie’s own eyes, allows for a sympathetic approach that allows us to connect with his journey immediately.

Michael Gracey’s direction ensures that the film is enchanting at all levels, as he mixes fantasy and reality to create pure magic. An approach that truly comes alive in the brilliant musical sequences. The best of which is ‘Rock DJ‘, an awe-inspiring number charting Take That’s rise to fame as they cause chaos down a busy street.

And with Jonno Davies providing the motion capture and younger voice while Robbie himself voicing the older chimpanzee, it leads to an intriguing yet captivating mix of heart, humor and humanity. The human cast too comprising of Damon Herriman, Steve Pemberton, Jake Simmance, Kate Mulvany, Raechelle Banno and Alison Steadman manage to be excellent throughout. On the whole, ‘Better Man‘ is a raw and emotional musical extravaganza that is surprisingly both honest and heartfelt.