If you live in the U.S., the name Robbie Williams pretty much means nothing to you. While he was a massive star in his native England, thanks to the 1990’s success of his band Take That, Robbie just never broke through in America. Things here in Canada were a little different; heading into the 21st century, songs like “Millennium,” “Angels,” and “Rock DJ” were pretty ubiquitous here thanks to regular video spins on MuchMusic, our hipper version of MTV. And then they weren’t.
It’s may be hard to believe that Robbie Williams is considered one of the biggest pop stars in the world, even though he never broke in North America. That fact probably makes it even harder to believe that Williams is big enough to merit a big screen telling of his life. And if you can believe that, you’d probably stop believing when you hear that in Better Man, the role of Robbie Williams is played by a CGI monkey.
It’s very, very possible that even if you don’t know who Robbie Williams is, you’ve heard about Better Man, or as a friend of mine called it, “the monkey movie.” Williams has said he always felt “less evolved than other people,” a thought that gives context to his cinematic depiction as a primate. It sounds ludicrous, that a movie musical based on a true story would feature a lead character as a monkey when everyone else in the film is a human. However, the decision by director Michael Gracey absolutely works. What could have been strictly a gimmick never feels out of place, which itself is the real ludicrous aspect of the film, but in a good way.
In Better Man, we watch Robbie Williams as a monkey from his youth through to his teenage years with Take That to his solo success, culminating with a performance at the massive Knebworth in front of 125,000 devoted fans; through it all, nothing is whitewashed, or primate-washed, and one can’t help connecting and feeling empathy for Williams. His success leads to alcoholism, drug abuse and suicidal ideation that, matched with his earliest feelings of self-loathing and self-doubt, are a nearly lethal combination. Williams, who voices his character and also rerecorded some of his biggest hits for Better Man, should be absolutely commended for getting behind a film where he comes across less as a rock god and more as a flawed human being looking for love and acknowledgment from his father (Steve Pemberton.)
This being the tale of a pop star, Better Man features lots of musical performances, including a riveting though strangely out of place performance of “Rock DJ” that comes early in the film, featuring Robbie and his Take That bandmates singing a song that wouldn’t be released until years later, and only after Williams went solo.
Though the film is overstuffed and, like Williams’ North American debut album The Ego Has Landed, goes on a little too long, ultimately Better Man does an excellent job of telling the story of a pop star in a unique manner.
It’s no monkey business to say that Better Man is a cautionary yet uplifting tale of one man’s desire to entertain the masses.
