BETTER MAN -- Bananas Biopic

Review by Adam Donato

The musical biopic sub genre continues to thrive and will never go extinct. With so many coming out all the time, it’s imperative to make your film stand out. Better Man does nothing but stand out. The film is about a British pop star named Robbie Williams. Never heard of him? Neither have most Americans. The decision to portray Robbie Williams as a computer generated monkey man will definitely catch some people’s attention. There will be people who will only watch the movie because he’s a computer generated monkey. If that’s what it takes to expose people to the music and life of Robbie Williams, then whatever works. 

Unfortunately, the whole computer generated monkey man shtick doesn’t feel like an essential aspect of adapting this artist. It never fully connects in the narrative or about the person to justify the decision. Then it just feels reduced to relying on a gimmick. A fun gimmick, but a gimmick nonetheless. The narrative of the film is just like any other musical biopic complete with all of the cliches. It’s the type of story that Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is parodying. The monkey man of it all is a welcome distraction from the mundanity. The quality of the computer animation looks very good too. They pulled it off, but some heavier moments are hard to take seriously when it’s happening to a monkey man. 

The musical sequences are quite dazzling and absolutely nuts. Michael Gracey had previously directed The Greatest Showman, which was an absolute hit at the box office and the songs still persist on the radio to this day. It’s clear how much Gracey has improved as the musical numbers are so full of life. Two that distinctly stand out are when they’re dancing in the street and the concert fight. You don’t even need to previously be a fan of the artist to enjoy his music. The songs range from fun to soulful and are sure to be new additions to your playlist. The clips of the musical numbers have already been making the rounds on social media and hopefully attract more open minded people to give the film a chance.

Most musical biopics follow the same type of structure, but Better Man does everything it can to differentiate itself from the crowd. It should be encouraged when filmmakers take big swings, even when they don’t fully work out. Similarly to Gracey’s past work, the musical sequences serve better as music videos than part of a movie with a compelling narrative. Robbie Williams’s story may not be remembered, but his personality is sure to shine through. American audiences should give this artist a chance in theaters this holiday season.

Better Man will is in select theaters on December 25 before going wide on January 17.

Rating: 3/5