‘Better Man’ review: A fun and emotional take on the musical biopic

The story of Robbie Williams’ life from Take That member to solo artist is fascinating enough. Add in a CGI monkey playing Williams and it becomes the talk of the town. For good reason. The Michael Gracey musical biopic really is masterful.

Robbie Williams provides a voiceover for the film, telling us the story of his life. The CGI version of Williams is portrayed beautifully be Jonno Davies, who plays the older version of Williams. It clarifies things, like what actually happened between him and Gary Barlow when he was forced out of Take That. The use of a CGI monkey might seem childish and weird but in reality, watching a monkey go through what Williams did allows you to feel for him in a way that you may not have otherwise.

Sadly, we’ve seen these stories over and over again. A beautiful musician we know and love goes through addiction issues. That’s a biopic staple at this point. But where Better Man shines is in its use of the monkey to really show how upsetting it is to see someone harm themselves in the way that Williams did.

At no point during the over two hour run time did I think that it would be better suited with an actor simply playing the role of Williams. The “gimmick” never got old, as it were. Instead, I felt more connected to Williams this way and cared deeply about his well being.

Unfortunately, audiences do care more about animals. One of the reasons behind the choice was the idea that an audience cares more about animals than people. And Gracey and Williams’ are correct when it comes to Better Man. Williams’ more outrageous and colorful moments are somehow tamer coming from his monkey self. I found myself more invested than I might have been otherwise.

A colorful blast of musical magic

It isn’t easy to make a movie musical anymore. You either have a biopic or a stage musical adaptation to work with, more often than not, and often audiences aren’t interested in a musical at all. But Better Man really knows how to balance the musical explosions with the darker side of Williams’ rise to fame.

With bombastic performances of Take That songs leading to Williams performing his classics, like “Angels,” it really is beautiful to see this CGI monkey version of Williams tackling these songs with ease. It honestly is amazing how you find yourself forgetting that you’re watching a monkey and not a young man as he tries to figure out what being famous looks like to him.

I will admit that I did not know the most about Williams, my knowledge was limited to my One Direction fandom days. But to see his life put on display in this way, with all the dark parts laid bare for an audience to unpack, it made me appreciate him as an artist. You don’t have to have your life out there like this but Williams told us his story from his own perspective and it is dark, twisted, but also a story of hope. And who knew we’d all be obsessed with monkey Robbie Williams after it?