Better Man

Robbie Williams in Better Man

Michael Gracey's Better Man displays that, after helming The Greatest Showman and Pink: All I Know So Far, he is the premier director of modern musicals. The "Rock DJ" number alone would make Better Man a must see for any lover of the musical genre. Unfortunately, it is contained within a musical biopic of Robbie Williams who plays himself with the aid of a motion capture monkey mask. Now maybe it is because I am a Yank, but I have had little regard for Mr. Williams' music and the soundtrack did nothing to change my mind. When an artist has to trot out "Land of 1000 Dances" as a showstopper, a sense of desperation and lack of a artistic vision are simultaneously evident. What do I know, though, the film soundtrack went to number 1 in both Ireland and the UK. 

Despite the monkey mask, Better Man is a fairly standard biopic chronicling the rise, fall, and recovery of a pop star who owes more to Sinatra than to Rock and Roll. Williams is portrayed as a young loser from Northern England who grabs the brass ring of fame when he is tabbed to be in the boy band Take That. However, fame goes to our boy's head and after various derelictions, he is ousted from the band. Improbably, his solo career takes off, but he mistreats his fiancee Nicole (a delightful Raechelle Banno) and descends into addiction before embracing recovery and making amends. All the while he is haunted by the traumas and insecurities of his past, particularly the desertion of his father when he was young. Unfortunately, this is symbolized by having various simian iterations of his past haunt that cheeky monkey Williams while he performs. One Williams is enough.

Williams knows he has ego issues, he even named one of his albums The Ego Has Landed, but a digital face cannot hide his self absorption. Better Man is two hours and fifteen minutes, at least twenty minutes too long. There are too many scenes of a sullen Williams twitching in the throes of a binge that bog down the film. I did enjoy the supporting cast, though, especially Steve Pemberton, Kate Mulvaney, Damon Herriman, and Alison Steadman. Despite the faux humility of his angry chimpanzee mask, Williams' self-regard is all too evident throughout. When the film ends with a tearful reunion, his pa tells him "you are one of the gods now." Only in the UK, mate.