Better Man

Better Man
Starring Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Kate Mulvany
Directed by Michael Gracey

To be honest, I've heard of Robbie Williams but never was into his music or honestly cared to know anything about him in any capacity, but of course he would get the musical biopic treatment which meant I had to see it to find out what the buzz was about. The main driving force behind this biopic that makes it different from the others is the gimmick that Williams would be played by a CGI monkey, while everyone else would be playing humans, and it's kind of like that game where you would replace everyone in a movie with Muppets but one, which one would you keep human? Only in this case its reversed. Essentially, that's the only thing that makes this different from every other generic musical biopic out there, and while it's got some decent musical numbers, in the end, it's as formulaic as you'd expect.

When he was a child (or a young monkey?), Robert Williams sang Frank Sinatra with his singing father Peter (Steve Pemberton) while his loving mother Janet (Kate Mulvany) and grandmother Betty (Alison Steadman) supported him from the sidelines. As he grew up, his love of music increased and found an opportunity by joining a new boy band called Take Take after his father left the family to pursue a singing career. As Take That grew in popularity, Robert (Jonno Davies) - who now goes by Robbie thanks to the boy band's manager - became the bad boy of the group whose antics led to him getting kicked out of the group. As he embarked on his solo career, he remains haunted by his past insecurities and demons as drugs and alcohol threaten to destroy his dream.

I can appreciate doing something different, but by making Robbie Williams a creepy CGI monkey it doesn't really make it much different than your generic musical biopic - it's just a different window dressing. We still see everything that makes this genre stale: a poor upbringing, a despondent father, a loving grandmother who says he can do anything, the first big break, rise to success, facing personal demons, succumbing to drugs, sex, and alcohol, falling from grace, and the eventual rise again. Only thing different is it's told through the eyes of a monkey, to which credit is given to Williams because he always said he felt like a performing monkey, but apart from that it's all very typical, save for a few moments of saving grace.

Those moments come when director Michael Gracey - best known for directing "The Greatest Showman" - returns to his roots and puts forth some fascinating, toe-tapping moments when Williams sings his songs as musical numbers rather than concert footage or used as montages. "Sing Street," "Come Undone" (which is the most striking cinematic visual in the film), and especially "Rock DJ" which features hundreds of dancers on Regent Street feel reminiscent of "The Greatest Showman" and deviates from the dull, predictable musical biopic norms, but unfortunately they're few and far between.

Robbie Williams narrates the film and this was formed over multiple interviews Gracey had with Williams over a year and a half, and at first he wasn't planning on making a movie, wanted to capture his own voice telling the story, which ultimately led to the movie being made. The performance capture was done by Jonno Davies, and while the CGI isn't the best, it's...somewhat...alright. At least it serves as a distraction from falling asleep due to the generic story being told, and Williams is an interesting person to do a film about, so...kudos to that.

Featuring some great musical numbers that take away from the generic biopic being told, "Better Man" is slightly better than other musical biopics along with Robbie Williams being played by a CGI monkey, that again diverts our attention away from the mundane story being told.

The Score: B