Better Man
The chimpanzee CGI may seem like a gimmick, but this is a splendid and empathetic portrait of an unlikely pop star who struggled to accept his own success.
I’ll start this review with a confession: I did not have any idea who Robbie Williams was before I saw “Better Man.”
It would seem a tough thing to get engaged with a music biopic about a famous singer who is not famous enough for me to even have a passing acquaintance. It seems he’s pretty huge in the United Kingdom but never really crossed over in the States. That’s fine; America doesn’t need to dominate everything.
And then of course there’s the first thing you notice about the movie: Williams is portrayed as a man-sized chimpanzee. Everyone else is human, and nobody seems to notice or comment on his hirsute distinction. It’s an allegory I suppose for how Williams, despite his success, has always seen himself as a less-than outsider, somebody who lucked into fame.
Narrated by Williams himself with a CGI motion-capture performance by Jonno Davies, who also provided the spoken lines while Adam Tucker does the singing voice, it may seem like a gimmick. But it’s a testament that after a short while you stop thinking about it, and just accept this is Williams.
There’s plenty of singing in the movie and a few dance numbers, including a standout number in the streets that’s a pure showstopper. Let’s just say despite my unfamiliarity with his stuff, I’m tempted to go out and buy the movie soundtrack on CD.
(Yes, old people still do that.)
It follows the fairly standard path of the music biopic: starting from nothing, then the sudden thrill of fame, followed by a downfall, resurgence, relationship and/or substance abuse challenges and eventually finding some measure of peace. That said, each section is totally engaging and I found myself rooting for Williams, despite often poor choices and some bad behavior toward others.
He got his start in the 1990s by trying out for one of those totally manufactured boy bands, the kind where an oily manager picks the members rather than the other way around. Damon Herriman plays Nigel Martin-Smith, the guy putting together the group, Take That, and the movie has fun casting him as the ultimate jerk villain while providing a legalese statement aimed at fending off a lawsuit.
Williams never really vibes with the other members of the boy band, and his penchant for drugs and partying soon mark him as the problem child. Eventually they kick him out, and while he professes not to care, it’s a severe blow that knocks him down for awhile.
He finds redemption, at least for a time, in the arms of Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno), a member of a corresponding girl band of roughly the same quality and fame as Take That. They enjoy the ultimate meet-cute where they stumble onto each other on a massive yacht at New Years Eve costume party, and neither initially knows who the other is.
I also enjoyed Williams’ ongoing, low-grade rivalry with the band Oasis and front man Liam Gallagher, who would later win Nicole’s hand for his own. Upon their first meeting Gallagher blasts him as a talentless wannabe, but nonetheless insists Williams come hang with them.
Helped by a partnership with songwriter Guy Chambers (Tom Budge), William eventually launches a solo career that leads to some major hits. And, of course, more drugs and fractious relationships.
The last portion of the movie is largely centered on him trying to revive his relationship with his dad, Peter (Steve Pemberton), who ran out on the family to pursue his own musical dreams. He’s subsisting as a warbler on a touring bus, and yet seems fully content in being able to sing for a living — which only makes Williams feel guilty for not being satisfied with all he has.
Despite the standardized plot — director Michael Gracey (“The Greatest Showman”) wrote the screenplay with Simon Gleeson and Oliver Cole — “Better Man” is hugely successful at getting at the heart of what Robbie Williams was all about. He’s a guy crushed between a raging ego and imposter syndrome, somebody who lives to make others happy onstage and struggles to find any joy of his own off it.
He’s audacious and hogs the limelight, but does so with such unabashed zeal that you don’t hold it against him. Robbie Williams may look like an ape in “Better Man,” but he comes off as troubled yet vibrant human soul in this terrifically entertaining portrait.