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“I came out of the womb with jazz hands,” pop star Robbie Williams explains in his new biopic “Better Man.” “Which was very painful for my mother.”
Badum Dum.
But also: wow! What an image, to describe a man who, as we learn, has been agonizing since childhood about whether he had “it” – the star quality that could make him famous.
Turns out, he did. Williams became the biggest star in her native Britain, scoring 14 No. 1 singles and performing in front of screaming crowds. Here’s what we learn from director Michael Gracey’s bold, daring, and sometimes downright boring biopic. , that is, Williams needed entertainment. Original – so original that it overcame self-doubt, depression and addiction. Then again, it should surprise no one that this film, produced and narrated by Williams, is, above all, entertaining.
But wait, you might be saying: Five paragraphs in, and you haven’t mentioned a monkey?
Good point. You see, the central conceit of Gracie’s film is that Williams is represented by a monkey — a CGI monkey, that is. This decision was never explained or even mentioned.
However, there is a clue in one of Williams’ opening lines: “I want to show you how I really see myself.” Gracie based his film on several hours of taped interviews he conducted with Williams. One thing he says the pop star told him was that he felt like a monkey sent to entertain the masses – especially as a member of the boy band Take That in his teens, this It was Gracie’s idea to take the idea and run with it.
We begin in 1982 in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Young Robert Williams is bad at football and gets taunted mercilessly. But football is not in his DNA, he explains. It’s a cabaret.
He gets his performing itch from his father. When Sinatra appears on TV singing “My Way”, little Robert jumps up to join his father in the song. But Dad cares more about performance than parenting, and one day leaves home forever. Robert is raised by his mother and his loving grandmother, who make him believe he is someone, not someone.
At the age of 15, while struggling in school, Robert auditioned for Take That, a boy band, and somehow made it. The band first covers the gay club circuit – until it turns out that the girls go crazy over these young men.
Director Gracie, who helmed “The Greatest Showman,” is quite a showman himself, never more so than in a spectacular musical sequence that chronicles the band’s journey to success. Filmed on Williams’ hit “Rock DJ” on London’s Regent Street and featuring approximately 500 extras, the number begins with the boys barely paying attention to passersby, representing the beginning of their career. Does. Gracie depicts her rise to fame with explosive choreography, pogo sticks, scooters, London buses – all culminating in a flash mob with hundreds dancing on the famous street.
And now, Robert is Robbie forever – his name changed by the band’s shrewd manager, Nigel. “Where has my Robert gone?” his grandmother asks, stunned by the publicity. “I’m a pop star now,” he replies.
But fame brings all kinds of problems for Robbie. Later, he’ll notice that when you become famous, your age goes down – so he never graduates from age 15. He sinks into depression and develops alcohol and cocaine habits.
But when the band kicks her out, her competitive fire is stoked: she’s about to have a “huge” solo career. A woman overheard him saying to himself at a New Year’s party; She turned out to be Nicole Appleton of the girl band All Saints. Another gorgeous song and dance number from Gracie covers her troubled relationship, which also includes a miscarriage.
Nicole left Williams, part of a tragic time for the singer, which managed to destroy most of his relationships. But he reached the pinnacle of his career by performing in front of some 375,000 fans at the famous Knebworth Festival.
Gracie punctuates scenes of Williams’ performance with a violent, medieval-style battle between the singer and her demons – essentially other versions of her. It’s another over-the-top sequence that makes this biopic radically different from all the others – if also a little indulgent.
But, hey, it’s all in service of the same thing. “Let me entertain you,” Williams seems to scream in every scene. Mostly, he succeeds.
The Paramount release “Better Man” is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “drug use, pervasive language, sexual material, nudity and some violent material.” Running time: 135 minutes. Three out of four stars.
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