If someone asked your average American teenager “What’s your favorite Robbie Williams song?” they’d probably ask who that was. You’ve most likely heard one of his songs such as “Candy” on social media, or maybe your mom loved British boy bands in the 90’s. If you love 90s pop, heartfelt stories, and/or movies that lean more whimsical, you would love British pop star Robbie Williams’s biopic “Better Man.”
Telling the story of Williams’s rise to UK fame with the boy band Take That, his fall from grace, and his individual journey to become a famous solo star, “Better Man” seems like every biopic we’ve seen, until we actually see the actor portraying Williams. Jonno Davies is CGI’ed into a chimpanzee version of Williams throughout the movie because, according to Williams, he always saw himself as “less evolved” than other people. While it threw me off at first because of how odd it seemed, the movie does a strangely great job at selling it nonetheless. No other characters acknowledged the fact he is a chimp, implying that it is Williams’s own perspective of himself and that everyone else sees him as a normal human. The choice to portray Williams in this light was definitely made to draw in viewers, but it makes the movie more visually intriguing and lays the foundation for what makes this movie stand out.
Something else that set this music star biopic apart was how it was set similarly to adaptations of Broadway musicals like “In The Heights and Westside Story.” There was lots of super fun dancing and song sequences that reflected Micheal Gracey’s breakout film, “The Greatest Showman.” With Robbie Williams being basically unknown to younger audiences here in the US, spinning the story in a musical format added an extra layer of interest to better appeal to a wider audience. I had never heard of Robbie Williams but making the movie a musical and adding gorgeous sets, visual stunning dance sequences, and layering in Williams’s songs made me super invested and sold me on the experience alone.
Speaking of having never heard of Robbie Williams, this movie has had me listening to the soundtrack on repeat for days. The renditions of “Relight My Fire” and “Rock DJ” have me humming along at random times of day, and my favorite song of the movie, “Angels”, has me in my feels every time. The soundtrack has all of Williams greatest hits and somehow infused them with the same addictive quality has the originals. It’s catchy, it makes you dance, and adds to the pop-fueled charisma that Williams, and this movie, brings to the music scene.
If you can get past the CGI, “Better Man” will make you fall in love with its infectiously fun aesthetic and charming story of overcoming your deepest demons. It is a limited release, so catch it in theaters while you can or on streaming.
