After Michael, This Underrated Musical Biopic Bomb Deserves Your Attention

One of the biggest trends in the film industry right now is musician biopics. In the past few years alone, we’ve had biopics about Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Elvis, Freddie Mercury, and, most recently, Michael Jackson.

While I do love a good musical biopic, the ones I have watched tend to feel a little formulaic. Most of them follow the same pattern: showing the rise, fall, and subsequent rise again of these famous figures, turning them from real people into the protagonists of, arguably, a pretty predictable story.

In light of this onslaught of biopic movies, you can be forgiven for feeling a little fatigued. But there’s one underrated and financially underperforming film that’s definitely worth your time — and that’s Better Man. 

For the uninitiated, Better Man is a biopic centred on boyband bad boy-turned solo artist Robbie Williams. When he first burst onto the music scene as part of Take That, he and the band were basically the Millennial equivalent of One Direction. 

However, there were, let’s say, ‘artistic differences’ between Williams and the rest of the band, which led him to split from them and branch out as a solo artist. From there, he arguably became one of the most famous men in the UK — but as the movie shows us, that level of celebrity comes with a price. Spoilers ahead!

Monkey Business: The Unusual Star Of Better Man

A huge strength of Better Man is its candid, sweary, British humour, which is mostly provided by Williams’ own narration. The narration itself is a great addition because it stops the film from taking itself just that little bit too seriously, which, in my opinion, is a common problem in biopics. At the end of the day, all these artists are human, and ironically for a movie about a monkey, the film remains grounded because Williams isn’t afraid to make fun of himself (and, of course, everyone else).

This narration sets the tone for the entire film, along with its unusual main character: namely, the elephant (or monkey) in the room. The biggest difference between Better Man and other musical biopics is that Robbie is literally a (CGI) monkey. But nobody else in the film is, and literally nobody addresses it. This, in and of itself, sets the tone for the biopic, providing a touch of absurdity. In doing so, the movie immediately sidesteps two of the most common biopic traps: being too self-important or being too self-flagellating.

There are several meanings behind the monkey, which all play a role in making the film more pertinent. For director Michael Gracey, it is all centred around the idea of a ‘performing monkey.’

“I found Rob saying often that he was just dragged up to perform, like a monkey, or it didn’t really matter,” he told Deadline. “And he said it enough times that I was like, ‘Oh, that’s how he sees himself. He literally sees himself as a performing monkey.’ And I thought, ‘That would be amazing; I would love to see that film.’”

It’s true that, in the film, Robbie is treated as a means to an end once he shoots to stardom, whether that be through the Take That team or even his own father. Despite the absence of physical realism, the artistic choice effectively conveys the realities of being showbiz’s ‘performing monkey’ more vividly.

Robbie himself also made an interesting point to Metro, saying the choice to depict himself as a monkey was, “Cos it’s unusual, right?”

“I’m on the spectrum, so things that are unusual to me aren’t that unusual – I don’t pick up on those sorts of cues. I don’t know where I am on the spectrum, by the way, I just know I am,” he added.

As a neurodivergent person myself, I understand how it feels to be just that little bit different from the people around you — and casting Robbie as a monkey, in turn, conveys that brilliantly. It’s like you're imitating humanity when you feel like a whole other species. 

In a broader sense, Better Man works because the film also deals with some pretty dark themes, like addiction. It’s not dissimilar to BoJack Horseman, one of my favourite TV shows about a celebrity alcoholic who, incidentally, is a humanoid horse. Most of the characters of this show are humanoid animals, while the others are humans. 

In an interview with NPR, showrunner Raphael Bob-Waksal said that a reason for this artistic choice is that the silliness of the premise makes it easier to “sneak attack” some of the show’s darker themes while maintaining a level of levity. In my opinion, whether intentional or not, Better Man achieves a similar goal. It would’ve been too dark to see Robbie in some of the places he got to in the film if he weren’t a monkey. But including those scenes ultimately added to the biopic’s power. 

The Musical Numbers Elevate The Film

While I’ve always been familiar with Robbie Williams’ stuff (which is kind of unavoidable if you’re British), I never really considered myself to be a fan of his, per se. So, I was taken aback by just how much I enjoyed the musical sequences in the film. 

‘Rock DJ’, for instance, went from the soundtrack of my tepid school discos to one of the most ambitious and enjoyable parts of the movie. It was edited to look like a continuous shot and involved 500 dancers – a moment of technical mastery. Its use of the Regent Street setting also served as a love letter to London, which, as a proud Londoner, I definitely appreciated.

‘Let Me Entertain You,’ another of the standout musical numbers, served as an epic climax to one of the biggest recurring motifs in the film: Robbie’s demons. The movie visually represents Robbie’s self-hatred and doubt through physical, past versions of himself often appearing in the audience, heckling him and shouting abuse only he can see/hear. After a whole film of this, Robbie hits his limit, and ‘Let Me Entertain You’ serves as the soundtrack to him violently brawling with all these different iterations of himself. As well as being, indeed, entertaining, it is powerful in the way that it exemplifies that only you can defeat your self-doubt.

By the end of the movie, Robbie can make peace with not just these versions of himself, but also his father (who is played surprisingly well by Steve Pemberton, given he’s acting opposite a CGI monkey). For a movie that was such a visual spectacle with its other numbers, the performance of ‘My Way’ is a lot more stripped back. This helps it demonstrate some really raw emotion, elevating the film beyond just being a great deal of fun, but also incredibly heartfelt. 

Is it embarrassing to get tearful over a CGI monkey crooning Frank Sinatra? Yes, slightly — but the ending feels earned due to its earnestness and authenticity. It’s a full-circle moment and a triumphant end to Robbie’s journey.

Even if you’re not the biggest Take That or Robbie Williams fan (I certainly wasn’t), Better Man definitely deserves a watch because of how refreshing it is. Among the sea of biopics, this one stands out due to its candidness, comedy, and the way it uses a gimmick to enhance a movie rather than relying on it too heavily. 

It really deserved better than being a colossal box office bomb. Trust me, if you let Better Man entertain you, so to speak, you won’t end up disappointed.