‘Better Man’ review – Robbie Williams becomes a CGI chimpanzee in surreal biopic | Movies

RObbie Williams – only he’s a chimpanzee! This is a nice traditional music biopic that culminates with the usual U-shaped narrative arc of humble beginnings, big break, superstardom, drugs, alcohol, superficial sex, a deep dive into the dark night of the soul and a redemptive comeback an excruciatingly lengthy performance of My Way at the Royal Albert Hall in London. But the whole thing is given a cheeky, conceptual twist by depicting the singer as a monkey – a screeching, scowling, clumsy CGI chimpanzee – while everything around him is human. Actor Jonno Davies plays the role in motion capture and Williams himself provides the voice-over.

The idea supposedly stems from Williams’ fear that he was immature, undeveloped, and forever emotionally stranded at the age at which he became famous: “As my soul heals the shame/I’ll ​​grow through this pain/Lord, I’m doing everything I can/To be a better man.”

But of course it’s an outrageous, existential modesty – as a chimpanzee, Robbie is superior to the boring humanoids: funnier, crazier, braver and more charismatic. Steve Pemberton plays Robbie’s unreliable old father Peter, a heartbreakingly unsuccessful Sinatra lounge singer who broke Robbie’s heart by abandoning his family but caught Robbie’s attention with a complicated Oedipal need to prove himself, to imitate him to win and surpass him. Alison Steadman plays his beloved grandma who always believed in him. Jake Simmance is Gary Barlow, whose songwriting professionalism earns Robbie grudging respect.

We see young chimpanzee Robbie auditioning for hateful promoter Nigel Martin-Smith (Damon Herriman) to join Take That – and the script by Simon Gleeson, Oliver Cole and Michael Gracey carefully gives Williams’ voice actor droll material about the ongoing Need to be quiet I am being polite to Martin-Smith for legal reasons. As Martin-Smith, Herriman has the funniest line; At dinner, he asks the fresh-faced band to look around the table. “In five years we will all hate each other – but we will be rich!”

That’s not quite what’s happening. Robbie’s drug abuse leads to him being expelled from the band. And with the help of his new girlfriend Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno), he sets out on his path to solo stardom while consumed by jealousy over her band All Saints and their No. 1 single. Songwriter Guy Chambers (Tom Budge) brings out Robbie’s inner talent – and here too there are some interesting, legal jokes about Robbie and Guy going on a beach holiday together. Robbie is fascinated and deeply envious of Oasis’ colossal success and longs for his own big Knebworth show – and for his father to love him.

Everything is performed worth watching, but the chimpanzee idea isn’t explored any further than simply making Robbie look like a chimpanzee. We’re not going into a Statue of Liberty on the beach; he just does what he would do anyway. As you gradually get used to the fact that he resembles a chimpanzee, the ironic and surreal effect wears off, and the chimpanzee’s face looks strangely less convincing than Robbie’s animated face seen in the images over the credits. The film is interestingly candid about the toxic, driving force of envy behind a musical career – something many music biographies leave out – but in the end, Robbie’s chimpanzee, as startling and amusing as it may be, feels like a distraction from his all-too-big one Passion. human misfortune and talent.