Some of the movies that I missed from 2024, specifically a lot of the Oscar worthy ones, come out in limited release in one year, such as 2024 and then go wide in the following year, 2025. Recently, I have been holding off watching those films until the June Swoon, but there are some that I will watch immediately. September 5, next week, will be one that I will see in the theaters because I am really looking forward to it. I went to one of these films today. It was called Better Man and it was a weird biopic of British pop star Robbie Williams.

To be honest, I did not know much of anything about Robbie Williams going into the movie. I think I had heard about the boy band he was in, Take That, but that is about all. With my limited knowledge, I learned a lot about the pop star.

Like, for example, he was a talking, singing monkey.

It is an interesting choice by the film creators to make Robbie, the character, a CGI monkey, voiced by Jonno Davies and the film is narrated by Williams himself. None of the other characters referenced him being a monkey so it is clear that this is the way the character sees himself and the others were just seeing the human version.

The story follows the rise and fall of Robbie Williams. The biopic does not sugar coat the life that Williams led. It showed his drug use, his suicidal thoughts, and struggles in his career.

I will say that I think the conclusion of this movie was completely emotional. I was tearing up through the whole scene and I just loved it.

Steve Pemberton does a great job as Robbie’s father, a major factor in the life of his son, both negatively and positively.

This was a really great biopic about a person who I did not know much about. I was thoroughly entertained throughout the film. It was a creative film that took the musical biopic in a different way.

4.75 stars