In a daring creative gambit, director Michael Gracey’s Robbie Williams biopic Better Man replaces its pop star subject with a CGI chimpanzee throughout – and against all odds, it works. Inspired by Williams’ own self-deprecating comments comparing himself to a “performing monkey,” this unconventional storytelling device allows the film to explore the singer’s inner life with surprising rawness, humor, and pathos.
Gracey, best known for the slick visual spectacle of The Greatest Showman, here proves he can plumb soulful depths beneath the technical razzle-dazzle. As conveyed by a motion-captured Jonno Davies, Robbie the Monkey becomes a sly yet sincere avatar for Williams’ conflicted relationship with fame, ambition, and his own self-destructive impulses.
From Rags to Riches and Rehab
Better Man dutifully traces the typical music biopic arc, from Williams’ hardscrabble childhood in Stoke-on-Trent to his meteoric rise and fall as a member of boy band Take That, solo megastardom, and struggles with substance abuse and mental health. In less inspired hands, touching on his doomed romance with All Saints singer Nicole Appleton or the death of his beloved grandmother could have felt like rote plot points.
But the film’s cheeky central conceit lends these stock “Behind the Music” moments a fresh resonance and idiosyncrasy. Gracey wisely lets Williams narrate his own story, allowing his self-reflection, wry British wit, and often disarming vulnerability to shine through.
I was a dancing chimp on a thin leash, forever beholden to that baying crowd.
– Robbie Williams via voiceover in Better Man
An Ape for All Seasons
From shimmying at early Take That gigs to spiraling alone in his L.A. mansion during the height of his solo fame, Robbie and his simian doppelganger nimbly embody the myriad joys and perils of pop stardom. One particularly harrowing sequence shows him hitting rock bottom in rehab, pounding his chest and wailing in simian distress.
Yet there are also moments of pure delight, as the chimp bops along to Williams’ hits “Angels” and “Let Me Entertain You,” or mugs wildly for the cameras at an awards show. Better Man understands both the giddy highs and soul-corroding lows of life in the limelight.
Shedding the Celebrity Myth
While Williams clearly invited an outsized portrayal by authorizing his depiction as a CGI chimp, it’s a gambit that pays off enormously. By simultaneously sending up and humanizing his image as cheeky pop idol and tabloid train wreck, Better Man cuts through the noise to offer a candid portrait of a gifted but damaged artist.
It allows us to root and feel for Robbie – as a monkey, yes, but more importantly as a man still struggling to shed limiting roles assigned by himself and the world. Amidst the film’s flashy simian antics, Gracey captures authentic grace notes of introspection and hard-won understanding.
The film’s capering ape transforms what would otherwise be a rote rock biopic, infusing the story with humor, mischief and a sparky, unpredictable energy.
– Wendy Ide, The Observer
Remaking the Rock Star Biopic
Better Man joins an intriguing new wave of musician biopics, like the Pharrell Williams Lego movie, that favor bold invention and interior life over rigid literalism. By using a CGI monkey as an avatar to explore the myth and man behind Robbie Williams, it offers a funhouse mirror version of a familiar tale – but one that is ultimately more revealing for its creative distortions.
Time will tell if Better Man represents the future of rock star life stories on film. But for Robbie Williams devotees and pop culture obsessives alike, it provides a strange, sincere, and sneakily moving glimpse behind the celeb façade – all through the soulful eyes of one unforgettable chimpanzee.
