Better Man review – Robbie Williams becomes CGI chimp in surreal biopic

A candid look at the toxic force of envy that drove his musical career but turned a talented musician into a deeply unhappy man. But why the CGI?

Robbie Williams – only he is a chimp! This is a pretty trad music biopic, coming with the accepted U-shaped narrative arc of humble beginnings, big break, superstardom, drugs, drink, shallow sex, dark-night-of-the-soul slump and redemptive comeback, here topped off with an unendurably protracted performance of My Way at the Royal Albert Hall in London. But the whole thing is given a cheeky high-concept twist by portraying the singer as an ape – a shrieking, scowling, capering CGI chimp – while all around are humans. Actor Jonno Davies plays the part in motion capture and Williams himself supplies the voiceover.

The idea supposedly comes from Williams’s fear that he is immature and unevolved, stranded emotionally for ever at the age he became famous: 15. And this chimp figure runs counter to his 2001 song Better Man, with its poignant, maybe Darwinian yearning for improvement: “As my soul heals the shame/I will grow through this pain/Lord, I’m doing all I can/To be a better man.”

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