'Better Man' Review: Robbie Williams Is a CGI Monkey In Wild Take on the Music Biopic | Fantastic Fest 2024

How do you spice up another musician's ego-soothing biographical drama? Monkeys. I'm not joking. Better Man started as a conversation between English pop royalty Robbie Williams and director Michael Gracey. Williams expressed feeling like a dancing monkey in stages of his performance career, which Gracey valued as a unique visual hook. Instead of depending on an actor to recreate historic performances from an iconic musician, Williams provides the voice for a CG primate version of himself. It's a bonkers decision that works better than it should, finding a fresh spin on another drug-fueled cabaret of an origin story.

What Is 'Better Man' About?

Image via Paramount Pictures

Jonno Davies provides the motion capture for Chimpy Robbie Williams, who we meet in his earliest years as an adorable jungle boy. Everyone around Robbie is human. His Sinatra-worshipping and neglectful runaway father, Peter (Steve Pemberton). Dedicated mother, Janet (Kate Mulvany). Williams’ supportive and beloved grandmother, Betty (Alison Steadman). The film tracks his rise from a shrimpy, pickled-last-for-sports childhood to his historic Knebworth concerts shortly before his admission to rehab. You'll relive his meteoric upbringing with Nigel Martin-Smith's boy band Take That, his breakout solo career, and all the tumultuous events that cemented his legacy — for better or worse.

I'm a sucker for a musical biopic, let alone one where a monkey man rails obscene amounts of cocaine. That said, Robbie Williams isn't my typical cup of tea — never present in my algorithmically driven Spotify playlists. Thankfully, Better Man doesn't require a blinding devotion to Williams' catalog or backstory. Gracey's techniques as a musical director (seen in The Greatest Showman) make it easy to connect with Williams' lyrics as they croon over major milestones along his professional ascension. Gracey gracefully emphasizes artistic splendor and the emotionality behind Williams' re-recorded tracks (for the film's scenes), delivering that oomph factor as production slickness hits memorable high notes.

'Better Man's Monkey-fying of Robie Williams Strangely Works

The monkey business about Better Man might sound like a circus attraction — a singing animal — but Gracey's vision isn't surreal. The film's unsubtle characterization of a musical performer who attributes self-worth to fan clubs and ticket totals applies in a "so blatant it's genius" manner. Davies' mo-cap movements would pass for recent “of the Apes” titles, while Williams' vocals play a normalizing trick on our brains. Digital animation brings Williams' monkey figure to life with a wonderfully blended naturality, selling the calmness in Better Man as no character bats an eye at the absurd display on screen. It's a gimmick that somehow never wears thin, which is situationally miraculous.

Using Williams' monkey-man allows for creative tweaks on commonplace "Behind the Music" themes. Williams' alcohol and drug addiction stay devastatingly relevant, as well as his struggles with depression. He hallucinates past versions of himself (still monkeys) in crowds who scowl with self-hatred, eventually leading to this battlefield fever dream where an entire sold-out crowd turns into war-ready versions of Williams' younger selves. A fight breaks out that (again) could pass for something found in Reeves' immaculately digitized Planet of the Apes films, as Gracey reinvents on-screen depictions of emotional traumas. Main characters have battled their demons for decades, but how many have been forced to eliminate their monkey-version selves in gladiatorial combat? Gracey's commitment to ensuring Better Man never feels surreal despite circumstantial evidence is paramount to the film's success because this is still Williams' life story.

'Better Man' Still Gets Formulaic at Times

Image Via Fantastic Fest

In that regard, Better Man does fall back on storytelling devices that mirror countless musical biopics. Better Man, Rocketman, and Bohemian Rhapsody are all similar in their highs and lows as focal subjects burn bridges, jeopardize their careers, and everything changes after a knockout stage performance. Williams' struggles with countless substances from an early age and stunted maturation as a boyband heartthrob in his teens aren't one-of-a-kind, nor does Better Man dodge hilarious roasts from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. There's a self-wankery about Better Man that presumes audiences want to see another celebrity confront the dangers of stardom like a public therapy session, and even with a monkey as lead, Gracey's script (co-written by Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson) doesn't escape biopic predictability.

And yet, Better Man has a reckless sincerity about what Williams is willing to show. Everything between Williams and his grandma Betty is primed to devastate audiences, especially if you know "Nan's Song." There's an energetic celebration as Take That leads the entirety of Picadilly Circus on a gran-humping, storefront takeover music video set to "Rock DJ." When Williams woos All Saints member Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno) at the beginning of their romance, emotions swell as their dancing set to "She's the One" is intercut with the heartbreak of trying and failing to start a family. There are odd choices, such as Williams' platforming his deadbeat-ish father over the mother who never left in a closing musical number. However, Gracey's execution still tugs at our heartstrings even when self-indulgence arises.

Better Man is in a category of successful biopic dramatizations all unto itself. Robbie Williams capitalizes on a concept no musician can duplicate and chooses the correct collaborator in Gracey. Entertainment is never that of gazing at a freakshow — Chimp Williams isn't some mascot or heckle-worthy hail mary. Gracey sustains an unhinged authenticity about Better Man, which is a testament to the dominating story that makes us care less about the absurdity of Robbie Williams as a monkey with the rawest, snowiest nose in the UK. Even if the film is just Williams' ego project, the performances and song interludes are enough to sell Better Man as a must-see example of how to spice up your personal history with unforeseen ambitions.