 Director: Michael Gracey Starring: Robbie Williams Studio: Paramount Pictures Genre(s): Drama/Musical Rated: R (For drug use, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some violent content) |
I can only imagine how Robbie Williams pitched “Better Man” to executives: “Alright, here’s what I’m thinking – and promise me you’ll keep an open mind – what if (and I can’t stress keeping your mind open enough) we made a biopic about me as I am played by a, wait for it…MONKEY?!” The more I think about it, the more it seems like a pitch straight out of an episode of “Family Guy.” Yet not only did Williams get his pitch through the executives, but he secured a large budget for this, and director Michael Gracey even put his own financial resources into the film. These are the kinds of decisions that can ruin careers if not pulled off properly.
Yes, Robbie Williams isn’t an actor; he’s an artist. By doing what he is doing, he is practically daring audiences to overlook the absurd and strange premise and go along for the ride. His decision to star in his own movie as a monkey may partially be because he can voice himself without his age becoming a factor (which is kind of brilliant in its own way), but also because of what he considers fame and money do to people: it turns them into animals. One of the reasons biopics tend to annoy critics who watch enough of them is that fame becomes a trap unto itself. It invites lots of power, which usually makes the famous person fall into drugs and addiction.
Rarely do love stories last in these sorts of movies. Aside from the fact that Robbie himself seems to openly be admitting to his shortcomings (“I was likely always going to become an addict; the money just made me become one faster” is an unusually reflective stance for a famous person to admit publicly), he has always been an entertainer who likes to keep his fans on the edge of their seats. Moving effortlessly from pop to rap, to crooning to rock, his albums are as diverse as they are bipolar. If anyone knows how to shake up the biopic genre, he’s likely the one to do it.
He also has a great understanding of what the best biopics bring to the table and then turns those on their head. Fans of his are going to hear many of his famous hits, but they aren’t going to get a story where he is writing them out one by one. Instead, they are played when he is a kid. When he suffers loss. When he is on top of the world. Do the songs line up with the timeline of his career? It doesn’t matter because they are giving context into who he is and how he views the world (something a movie like “Bohemian Rhapsody” completely failed to do).
What is the story? Honestly, it doesn’t matter much here. Without diminishing his personal experiences, chances are you know what you are getting into in that aspect. And Robbie knows it too. He’s seen enough of these to understand he is a walking cliché himself. What he brings with director Michael Gracey (who directed “The Greatest Showman”) is an exuberant musical experience that feels fresh on top of a mountain of clichés that would bury lesser films. And if this is how he approached the film adaptation of his life, I can only speculate what he’s going to do when it comes time to write his memoirs.
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