THE STORY – Based on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams, one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Uniquely told from Robbie’s perspective, capturing his signature wit and indomitable spirit. It follows Robbie’s journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist — all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.
THE CAST – Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton & Alison Steadman
THE TEAM – Michael Gracey (Director/Writer), Oliver Cole & Simon Gleeson
THE RUNNING TIME – 134 Minutes
“Better Man” is probably (and hopefully) the closest we’ll ever get to a “Deadpool” musical. The Robbie Williams biopic is crass, meta, and self-aware, full of F-bombs, dick jokes, winking asides to the audience via narration, copious amounts of CGI, and even its share of graphic violence. And, just like Deadpool, it’s not nearly as groundbreaking as it thinks it is. Because, at the heart of “Better Man,” for all the tools it uses to earn its R-rating, it’s still yet another musician biopic following the rise/fall/redemption arc, complete with failed marriages, substance abuse, and daddy issues. This is one that just so happens to feature a CGI chimpanzee instead of Williams.
Yes, you heard that correctly. Former Visual Effects Supervisor-turned-Director Michael Gracey (“The Greatest Showman“) collaborated with the visual effects team at Weta – who brought you Gollum and the “Avatar” aliens – to render Williams as a photorealistic CGI chimpanzee in every single scene. The chimpanzee progresses through the classic beats of a musician biopic otherwise. Williams grows up with a neglectful father, hustles his way into show business in large part to try and find the love and acceptance he was denied as a child, joins a band, finds success (and drugs), sets out on his own, has a rocky marriage, sees his substance abuse worsen and almost derail his career, confront his inner demons, and then perform a redemption performance.
What makes “Better Man” stand out is, well, aside from the fact that there is a CGI chimpanzee in every scene, is that, whereas most musician biopics sanitize their subjects, Williams is depicted unrelentingly as an asshole – even from the very beginning. This film does not want to make you particularly like or even root for its subject. Williams’ narration feels like a cross between Deadpool and Ewan McGregor in “Trainspotting” and further hammers this home with constant jokes. An example is when Williams is getting a handjob and makes eye contact with his manager, quipping, “For once, Nigel wasn’t the biggest Wank in the room,” and says things like, “For legal reasons, I am required to tell you that X is a super nice person.” The quips are often low-hanging frat-type humor, but they sometimes land. However, they do little to endear Williams, who spends the majority of the movie brash and arrogant to the extreme, abusing every substance under the sun, cheating on his wife, and berating his friends.
Of course, most musician biopics have a period in the second act where the musician declines; in this case, the film’s two-hour-and-15-minute runtime, at least an hour and 40 minutes, is dedicated slowly to Williams’ debauchery and destructive lifestyle. The honesty is admirable, truly, especially when compared to sterile PG-13 biopics like “Bohemian Rhapsody.” And yet, the result is that much of the film drags; it’s repetitive seeing Williams behave like an ass and continue to destroy his life over and over again, especially when the film spends little to no time trying to make him likable from the start. Moreover, while emotional, the final 15 minutes don’t feel entirely earned, especially because Williams’ friends and lovers are so thinly scripted and barely fleshed out that the time spent repairing his relationships with them lacks much weight. Also, the conclusion of Williams’ storyline with his father feels unearned.
The film undoubtedly has style. Tracey’s VFX background shows as he drenches the film in CGI spectacle, including drug-induced hallucinations and literal manifestations of Robbie battling his (also CGI) demons. The CGI monkey is remarkable. Weta nailed the hard-to-manage lifelike eyes, and the work on Williams is only slightly less impressive than that in the recent “Planet of the Apes” movies. At the same time, the extensive CGI detracts from the spectacle of the musical numbers on display. The camera often leaps about too effortlessly, and both the music and the aesthetics of these numbers feel too slick, with an autotuned feel similar to how it often felt in “The Greatest Showman.” That being said, the choreography is frequently creative. One musical number feels right out of a hyper-choreographed “OK Go” music video.
“Better Man” is all competently put together but just drags. And, despite all the crass, self-aware humor and visual flourishes, it doesn’t do much to shake up the structure of a biopic. Whereas a “Walk the Line” or “Ray” – even if cliched – reminds you why the musician at its center was a beloved musician, “Better Man” is so focused on the spectacle and on showcasing the unsavory parts of Williams’ life that it doesn’t really demonstrate to an audience why his music was so beloved.