Robbie Williams Devolves in the Cheeky Rock Biopic ‘Better Man’

January 8, 2025

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Man! I feel like a Better Man (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)

Starring: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Kate Mulvany, Alison Steadman, Damon Herriman, Raechelle Banno, Jake Simmance, Liam Head, Jesse Hyde, Chase Hollenweider, Tom Budge, Leo Harvey-Elledge

Director: Michael Gracey

Running Time: 135 Minutes

Rating: R for Sex, Drugs, and Pop Rock ‘n’ Roll

Release Date: December 25, 2024 (Limited Theaters)/January 10, 2025 (Wide Theaters)

What’s It About?: Based on my understanding, Robbie Williams is one of those fellows who’s a whole heck of a lot more popular on the other side of the pond than he ever was in the US of A. I know him best for his pre-Y2K hit “Millennium,” which I have plenty of fond memories of, but he never seemed like the kind of superstar who would get swarmed by rabid fans. But apparently he is in his native land of Merry Ol’ England! His career kicked off in the early 90s as a member of the boy band quintet Take That, and then he eventually broke off for a solo career. In the process, he endured all those vices endemic to the rock star lifestyle: addiction, rocky home life, rollercoaster romances. And eventually, he lived a life worthy of a biopic in which he’s portrayed as a chimp-human hybrid.

What Made an Impression?: Going Ape: Better Man is one of those biopics where the subject plays himself, which you might be surprised about considering what I just said in the last paragraph. To be thorough, though, he didn’t do it on his own! He mostly narrates as his future wiser self, while Jonno Davies provides the bulk of the visual performance with a motion capture routine to set up the CG chimpanzee animation. (Carter J. Murphy contributed child Robbie’s vocals, while Adam Tucker is credited with “additional vocals.”) If you enjoyed the recent LEGO-animated Pharrell documentary Piece by Piece, chances are you’ll also find something to appreciate about Better Man. The narrative is undeniably straightforward and maybe even a little bit cliché, but committing to the chimp gimmick the whole way through is nevertheless a simple and effective trick to increase the freshness a thousandfold.
Single Male Chimp Seeking…: While I was grateful to see Chimpanzee Robbie, I guess it also made me a little greedy, because I couldn’t help but wonder: why wasn’t everyone else a primate? While that may have made for a more visually diverse experience, I must accept that that wasn’t the movie that this creative team wanted to make. Instead, we got what we got because Robbie felt adrift as an ape-man in a sea of ostensibly more normal humans. Still, there was plenty of room for even more flights of fancy. One climactic highlight consists of a concert turning into a chimpanzee battle royale in which Robbie vanquishes various parts of his psyche, and there could have been more of that. The overall gimmick didn’t disappoint, but it did get subsumed into a fairly traditional story. It may have been an honest telling of Robbie’s experience (and perhaps even effective therapy for him), but you kind of get the feeling that Better Man wanted to burst through with even more unbound creativity.

Better Man is Recommended If You Like: Behind the Music, Animal Planet, non-London English accents

Grade: 3 out of 5 Chimpanzees

This Is a Movie Review: ‘The Greatest Showman’ Promotes P.T. Barnum’s Brand of Happiness with Enough Surface-Level Charms

December 20, 2017

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CREDIT: Niko Tavernise/Twentieth Century Fox

This review was originally posted on News Cult in December 2017.

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya

Director: Michael Gracey

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rating: PG for Unruly Crowds Violently Demanding a Good Show

Release Date: December 20, 2017

PT Barnum, the famed 19th Century circus purveyor, just wanted to make audiences happy. Sure, he trafficked in exploitation and probably a fair bit of flimflam, but his name lives on as one synonymous with showmanship. So why shouldn’t he have a foot-stomping big-screen musical celebrating his life and legacy? Thus, we have The Greatest Showman, with Hugh Jackman donning the top hat and cane, which zips along and finishes up in just over 100 minutes, thus avoiding the exhaustion that musicals are always at risk of. Its delights are mostly surface-level, but not to be dismissed, as it celebrates freaks and tolerance, while pooh-poohing stuffiness and losing sight of what’s important.

The songwriting, courtesy of La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, is unrelentingly bombastic. It both fits the subject matter and forces the audience to surrender to the spectacle. The effect is initially chaotic. The opening number drops us right into the lavishness, starting off not so much in media res, but rather in finis res. Eventually it settles into a bearable rhythm, but do prepared for some dizzying and overstuffed cinematography.

There are a few classic conflicts to this story that have me a little distressed for how long they remain inadequately unaddressed. For example – and this is the crux – what really drives Barnum? Is he more concerned about putting on a great show or paying off a lifelong grudge by showing up his rich, pompous father-in-law? Do his loyalties lie more with the freaks who made his name or the opera singer (Rebecca Ferguson) who can win over high society for him? I mean, the answers he seeks should be super obvious, as all he has to do is look at and listen to his wife (Michelle Williams) and daughters and know that he has already won at life. And what of his business partner (Zac Efron) – when he will be willing to publicly display his love for the black trapeze artist (Zendaya) who has won his heart?

These issues are all eventually resolved to sufficient satisfaction, though they do skimp a bit on the hard work of rectification and forgiveness. But that speed works according to the logic of musicals. Emotions are so outsize that genuine reunions can be forged over the few minutes of a reprise. Ultimately, it works out well enough that it leaves me with a smile, and if it has you feeling the same, then The Greatest Showman has fulfilled P.T. Barnum’s hope for happiness.

The Greatest Showman is Recommended If You Like: Hugh Jackman singing more often than Zac Efron, Musicals at their most achingly earnest

Grade: 3 out of 5 Trapezes