Yikes, it looks like Better Man is the first big box office bomb of 2025 and when all is said and done, it could be the biggest of the year! The crazy thing is, I thought this movie would be huge. Here in the UK, in the 90s and early 00s, Robbie Williams was huge, he would perform at festivals in front of the better part of 100,000 people and he had hit after hit. All this coming after being in one of the biggest British boy bands of all time, Take That.
How to Download Better Man
Better Man was released on 25 December 2024. You can download the film from a digital store. You can also stream it. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like biographical films about musicians, check out also Piece by Piece (Pharrell Williams), Rocketman (Elton John) or Bob Marley: One Love (Bob Marley).
The Movie Review
To give you an idea of how big Robbie Williams was here in the UK. When EA Sports wanted to use his song, Its Only Us for FIFA 2000, he managed to get them to include Port Vale, the football team he supported. This may not seem like a big deal these days as the FIFA/EA Sports FC games feature all the English professional leagues, but back in 2000, this was not the case and Port Vale was in the third tier of English football, but because Robbie Williams supported them, EA put them in the game!
The thing with Robbie Williams is, I have always liked most of his music, but I always felt that he came across as an attention seeking douchebag and I had pretty much no time for his schtick. However, people did love his schtick so I am probably in the minority there. I was interested to see if the movie would play him as some kind of saint who was misunderstood.
A Raw and Honest Biopic
That is not the case though, do not get me wrong, they do give very good reasons for why Robbie was the way that he was, but they do not shy away from the fact that he could be a complete asshole. This felt like a very honest biopic of a beloved British pop star and perhaps that is why it bombed as outside of the UK, especially in the USA, Robbie Williams never caught on like he did here.
There has certainly been no shortage of musical biopics over the last few years, but I am going to say something wild here, Better Man is my favorite music biopic of all time! I was completely hooked by this right from the start and while I still look back on the 90s and early 00s Robbie Williams and still think he was a total douchebag, the movie does put a lot of that into context.
The Unique Approach of Better Man
The movie has fantastic pacing and pretty much covers his entire career. We get to see his childhood, his boy band days in Take That and his rise as one of the biggest pop stars in the UK. I loved how the movie made sure to show all of the highs, but also show many of the crushing lows that he had as well.
Now, we have to talk about the “gimmick” of Better Man and that is that Robbie Williams is represented by a walking and talking monkey. The crazy thing is, no one reacts to this and it is like we are seeing Robbie as he sees himself. The motion capture is not done by Robbie Williams, but by Jonno Davies who also does the voice. The actual Robbie Williams does the narration for the movie and I think that this works out really well. It is easily the most interesting way one of these musical biopics has been presented.
Better Man’s Soundtrack and Musical Performances
As you would expect, there are some great musical numbers here and what I thought was really cool was that they actually re-recorded the songs to make them fit the tone of the scene they were used in better. This not only makes these Robbie Williams hits you know and love awesome for being in the movie, but it also makes listening to them here feel fresh, but they still hit you with some nostalgia.
Final Thoughts on Better Man
It is such a shame that this is bombing the way that it is, the thing is most people who have seen it have loved it. I have a feeling that when this hits streaming and people give it a chance, it really will be regarded as one of the best music biopics. Even if you have never heard of Robbie Williams, this is still a fantastic and well told story that is super entertaining and well worth your time.
