In 2006, Robbie Williams released ‘Rudebox’, a career-shattering kamikaze mission of novelty rap, gaudy synth-pop and the immortal line: “Up yer jacksy, split yer kecks”. The world wanted another ‘Angels’. He gave them an album so confounding that a million unsold CDs were reportedly shipped to China to be crushed and used for road paving.
It’s the same creative kink, perhaps, that has led to Better Man, which might be the strangest music biopic ever made. In 2022, Robbie Williams told NME that the film is “vitally important as a tool for me to wander into the third act of my career”, a legacy making act that included last year’s self-titled Netflix documentary and 2022’s ‘XXV’, which marked 25 years of solo stardom with orchestral re-recordings of his best-loved songs.
The biopic, then, seemed teed-up as a feel-good British success story. This was a chance for a rags-to-riches tale so inspiring that even the haters felt a swell of national pride as he rose from a working-class upbringing in Stoke-On-Trent to a still-unmatched crowd of 375,000 across three nights at Knebworth Park. Get the bunting out, watch the streaming numbers rocket and book that Glasto Legends slot.
Anyway, he’s played by a CGI monkey. And that’s not even the weirdest thing about it! Directed and co-written by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), who collaborated with Robbie on the flick, Better Man is an overstuffed, overlong (131 minutes!) concoction of traditional biopic, jukebox musical, cosy teatime drama and brutal dissection of fame. Oh, and there’s a bit of gory fantasy in there too.
Why is Robbie Williams being played by a CGI monkey? This is never explained. The chimp is ably voiced by Jonno Davies and the film’s front section is a riot, as young Williams sees his Dad Peter (Steve Pemberton) become a light entertainer and wants a bit of that too. Soon he joins Take That and spends the early ‘90s living out his boyband dream. There’s a joyous scene in which the lads, having landed a record deal, dance through central London and sing ‘Rock DJ’ together. Yes, that hip-thrusting Robbie Williams solo single from 2000. It doesn’t matter why.
Yet Robbie is plagued by self-doubt, depression and addiction. When the exasperated band show him the door, he must bravely chase success alone. It’s here that the wheels start to come off. Dodgy depictions of real-life celebs (such as Liam Gallagher) clash with the film’s fantastical tone, which itself can’t support Gracey’s attempt to address serious topics. You just think: how did the monkey score that smack?
Better Man begins like a John Lewis ad and swerves into an R-rated hodgepodge that somehow does too much while also barely skimming the surface of Robbie Williams’ career. This is ‘Rudebox’ on film: some of it good, some of it very bad, all of it a bit of a mess. Still, the monkey musical is a big swing that no-one else would have taken. You can’t fault the chutzpah or the ambition. If it makes back its reported budget, we’ll eat $110m worth of bananas.
Details
- Director: Michael Gracey
- Starring: Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Alison Steadman
- Release date: December 26 (UK cinemas)