Better Man: Robbie Williams Monkey-man Biopic Doesn’t Exactly Swing
By Kim Hughes
Rating: B-
It seems contradictory, yet it appears it’s possible for a film to be both wildly adventurous and maddeningly formulaic at the same time. Witness Better Man, the heavily effects-driven biopic of British pop star Robbie Williams which possesses something of a split personality.
On one hand, its chief conceit is commendably weird: the adult Williams is played by Jonno Davies as a chimpanzee filmed in motion capture, conjured with CGI to humanoid effect, and voiced by its subject. Daring!
Yet its story follows a ho-hum biopic trajectory structurally indistinguishable from recent entries such as Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s as if all those fancy technical bells and whistles sucked up all the energy that might have been diverted towards dynamic writing. Or perhaps Williams just got in the way of his own story.
Legend has it the singer — deeply involved in the film as an executive producer and himself digitally scanned and motion-captured while performing, so production could authentically mimic his expressions and mannerisms — told his friend, the writer-director Michael Gracey, that he often felt like a monkey when dragged up on stage to perform.
“I immediately thought portraying you not as we see you, but as how you see yourself,” Gracey tells Williams in a promotional clip. “It immediately clicked in a way that… with your voice and that monkey, I am going to see you and relate to you in a way that is going to be more engaging than yet another musical biopic.”
A noble intention, to be sure, and one not technically easy to pull off. But after a while, the novelty of the monkey on screen actually recedes, leaving the well-worn story to carry the action. Arguably more detrimental, the actual subject of the film is about 10,000 times more charismatic than his avatar. No amount of technological wizardry can change that.
Better Man unfolds chronologically and begins with young Robert showing his stuff (attitude, not athletic prowess) playing footie with the neighbourhood kids in backwater Stoke-on-Trent. Once back home, Robert duets with Sinatra-obsessed Dad while Mum fusses. In the bathtub, beloved nan Betty reassures our wide-eyed chimp-boy that he is special and loved, foreshadowing a profound insecurity that will stalk Williams as he sprints towards stardom.
Dad abandons the family to pursue half-cocked dreams of being an entertainer, leaving an almost visible hole in the heart of our young protagonist. Years later, in 1990 at age 16, he auditions for and is recruited to join boy band Take That by Nigel Martin-Smith. The Svengali-like overseer hones the group’s moves on the gay nightclub circuit before connecting them to the female fans that will shoot them to stardom and riches.
Then comes the booze, drugs, and creative conflicts between Williams (now just Robbie), Take That colleague Gary Barlow, and Martin-Smith that the real-life story and the film’s trailer lean into so prominently.
The arc of spectacular success to spectacular failure and back up again is tired to say the least; the wise-cracking Williams would likely be the first to admit it even if his own often disarming self-loathing is the gas in the engine of the action.
Here, his failures are wrung for easy emotion, as when Williams’ partner, aptly named All Saints singer Nicole Appleton, catches him shooting up in their flat. But solo success will not elude our man despite his self-made obstacles, and the film’s final third sees him rise phoenix-like from the cocaine-dusted ashes.
The film culminates with a genuinely cringey recreated performance from 2001 at the Royal Albert Hall where Williams salutes the trad American singers (Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin) that so inspired him and his father before… sigh… Williams invites Dad up for a conciliatory and healing father-son duet. Beyond maudlin, any good will sustained to this point is heaved to the dustbin.
Better Man has some terrific set pieces, notably a spectacular song-and-dance number between Williams and Appleton when they meet-cute on a yacht on New Year’s Eve set to “She’s The One.” To Williams’ credit, he’s not averse to showing highlights as well as lowlights.
Interestingly, after the film, I bumped into an esteemed colleague who thought it was great, really capturing Williams’ essence. So, fans of the singer shouldn’t be too disheartened with this old crank’s appraisal. Chances are you’ll enjoy it.
But here’s an analogy for how I see Better Man: if you’re going to strut with something fabulously outrageous, say, like a Patricia Field frock, don’t pair it with Crocs. I’ve seen more narratively compelling versions of this exact biopic before, authentic-looking simians notwithstanding.
Better Man. Directed by Michael Gracey. Starring Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Damon Herriman, Raechelle Banno, Alison Steadman, Kate Mulvany, Frazer Hadfield, Tom Budge, and Anthony Hayes. In theatres January 10.