{"id":10584,"date":"2025-01-13T16:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T21:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=10584"},"modified":"2025-01-25T23:27:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T04:27:45","slug":"better-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/01\/13\/better-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Better Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Better<\/strong> Man<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Drama-Musical\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 134 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (drug use, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity, some violent content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Michael Gracey\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Simon Gleeson, Oliver Cole and Michael Gracey\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Batu Sener\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Erik A. Wilson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 10, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Robbie Williams, Steve Pemberton, Kate Mulvany, Alison Steadman, Damon Herriman, Raechelle Banno, Jake Simmnace, Liam Head, Jesse Hyde, Chase Vollenweider, Tom Budge, Leo Harvey-Elledge, Chris Gun, Frazer Hadfield.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0The number one question on people\u2019s minds about the Robbie Williams biopic Better<\/strong> Man<\/strong> is WTH? What\u2019s up with him being depicted as a chimpanzee? Well, here\u2019s the answer. It\u2019s a reflection of how he perceives himself as \u201cless evolved than other people\u201d. It could have come off as pretentious and self-gratifying (or as I like to call it \u201cartistic masturbation\u201d), but it\u2019s actually quite brilliant. It makes for a unique viewing experience and the most original film I\u2019ve seen all year.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I was the only one in attendance at today\u2019s 4pm showing of Better<\/strong> Man<\/strong>. I\u2019m not surprised. It\u2019s not the kind of movie that plays to mass audiences. Also, not a lot of Americans know who Robbie Williams is. He\u2019s more famous in the UK than he is here. For the record, he\u2019s a pop singer who started out as a member of the 90s boy band Take That before embarking on a successful solo career. His battles with alcoholism, drug addiction and mental illness are well publicized. Like all artists, he\u2019s a flawed figure uncomfortable in own skin hence the motion-capture chimp.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), Better<\/strong> Man<\/strong> introduces us to Williams when he\u2019s a wee lad of eight in 1982. He lives in Stroke-on-Trent with his family. It follows him through his father (Pemberton, The League of Gentleman) leaving the family to seek fame to Robbie finding it after becoming the youngest member of Take That. The film then takes us through all his professional and personal ups and downs including his relationship with All Saints singer Nicole Appleton (Banno, Home and Away) and his eventual ejection from the group due to his erratic behavior. We also watch as he descends into addiction and madness, ruining relationships and nearly destroying himself.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Gracey also examines his complicated relationship with his dad whose desire to mend fences coincides with Robbie\u2019s success as a singer. A fervent admirer of Frank Sinatra, he always saw himself as a crooner, but success always eluded him. Robbie\u2019s greatest supporter is his grandmother (Steadman, Life Is Sweet) who always tries to convince him that he\u2019s enough even if others don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A lot of biopics of musicians claim to be musicals, but they\u2019re really not, not in the traditional sense. Better<\/strong> Man<\/strong>, on the other hand, can rightfully be called a musical. It has musical numbers with actual singing and dancing. The show-stopper is easily \u201cRock DJ\u201d. In it, Robbie and his fellow Take That bandmates sing and dance their way around Regent Street accompanied by hundreds of back-up dancers. It\u2019s a depiction of their meteoric rise to fame. It\u2019s an energetic piece with several costume changes. It\u2019s an impressive piece of choreography. I was also impressed by \u201cLove, Death & Robots\u201d, the song Robbie sings at his Knebworth concert. He hallucinates fighting his personal demons depicted as incarnations of Williams from different periods in his life. It\u2019s a battle royale of the apes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The acting in Better<\/strong> Man<\/strong> is superb. While Williams provides his own voice, it\u2019s Jonno Davies (Hunters) who does all the mo-cap stuff. Combined, they do Oscar-level work. Pemberton does great work as the dad while Steadman brings heart as the loving, supporting grandmother. Banno has some powerful moments as Nicole, the girlfriend whose patience with Robbie\u2019s behavior extends only so far. Leo Harvey-Elledge provides comic relief as Oasis bad boy lead singer Liam Gallagher. I never knew he was such a dick.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I can\u2019t think of a single negative thing to say about Better<\/strong> Man<\/strong>. Everything about it is perfect or close to it. The special effects are well-rendered. The music, none of which I\u2019m familiar with, is very good. The numbers blend seamlessly with the rest of the action. Plus, the movie has heart. It\u2019s a surprisingly moving film, especially at the end. What\u2019s better, all of the emotion is real and earned. It never feels false, forced or insincere. It really is one of the best films of 2024. Let\u2019s hope audiences discover it before it\u2019s too late.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Better Man (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Drama-Musical\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 134 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (drug use, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity, some violent content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Michael Gracey\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Simon Gleeson, Oliver Cole and Michael Gracey\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Batu Sener\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Erik A. Wilson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 10, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Robbie Williams, Steve Pemberton, Kate Mulvany, Alison Steadman, Damon Herriman, Raechelle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-musical"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Better-Man-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10584"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10608,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10584\/revisions\/10608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}