Better Man (2024)

The reviewer hails the film as brilliant and bombastic, with the CGI monkey portrayal of Robbie Williams as one of the most inspired bits of casting of the year. It praises the director's handling of the musical numbers and emotional depth around fame and self-destruction.

The critic praises the film's heartfelt and honest take on Robbie Williams' life through its unusual chimp conceit, which elevates the musical biopic and makes the emotional truths more relatable and protective of the character.

Gracey turns the biopic formula on its head with a CGI chimpanzee stand-in for Robbie Williams that the film treats completely seriously. The director stages dazzling musical sequences, especially the one-shot 'Rock DJ' number, that elevate the familiar rise-and-fall story.

Calls it the craziest musical of the year, praising the inventive, berserk musical numbers and how the film embodies the subject's anxious, showman persona through its audacious style.

The reviewer calls the film ridiculously enjoyable and a stroke of genius for treating its monkey premise seriously without jokes or explanation. It singles out the bombastic musical set-pieces and Steven Pemberton's supporting turn as highlights of this knowing, satirical biopic.

The wildly creative Gracey fills the screen with hilarious, no-holds-barred zeal as a CGI chimpanzee embodies Williams’s self-image. Erik Wilson’s warm, grainy cinematography and fluid scene transitions make the inventive biopic look astonishingly good.

The reviewer deems it the best movie musical of the year, an honest and endlessly endearing spectacle that leans into its quirky monkey conceit. It highlights the film's empathy toward the pressures of early fame and its dynamic musical sequences.

The reviewer finds the inventive biopic treatment very entertaining and surprisingly moving, praising its refusal to harbour illusions about the subject's drive. It singles out the audacious monkey rendering and lively structure with energetic musical numbers.

The review finds that the CGI chimp portrayal works effectively as more than a gimmick, allowing an unvarnished yet entertaining look at Williams' addictions, self-sabotage and trauma through strong musical sequences.

Portraying Williams as a CGI chimpanzee is an inspired if initially silly gimmick that makes the biopic dazzling and emotionally engaging. The motion-capture performance and seamless integration deliver a pleasurable ride through the singer's life story.

The reviewer finds the chimpanzee conceit for Robbie Williams bizarre yet effective in enlivening a conventional music biopic. The device captures the singer's alienation and self-loathing particularly well in sequences like the Knebworth battle royale.

The film is a fairly conventional music biopic given a surreal twist by portraying Robbie Williams as a CGI chimpanzee amid human characters. It is candid about the envy driving his career but the chimp device ultimately distracts from his human struggles and talent.

The piece views the film as Williams' personal exorcism of demons via the chimp metaphor and inner-world focus, but criticises its tidy redemption arc and lack of true vulnerability or freedom from past patterns.

The biopic descends into navel-gazing and narcissistic victimhood despite the CGI chimp twist, which feels like a one-note joke enabling tedious therapy-speak. It is self-serving propaganda that makes other biopics look nuanced by comparison.

The decision to render Williams as a chimpanzee among humans is a masterstroke that gives a surreal, sad twist to an otherwise grim story and elevates the film to unlikely excellence. It captures a strange truth about the subject while delivering a crowd-pleasing psychiatric report in musical form.

Praises it as a wonderfully bananas musical biopic that feels like a cure for the common musical, with the monkey conceit working well in a wild, inventive way.

Finds the exuberant biopic hard to resist and unique, praising the inventive musical passages and how the monkey conceit forces fresh eyes on biopic tropes, though it lacks a perfect final grace note.

The critic finds the film a risky, energetic head-scratcher with some effective emotional scenes and exhilarating musical sequences, but notes issues with the screenplay and audience walkouts at Telluride.

Williams’s caustic, vulnerable narration and the motion-capture performance refresh the familiar beats of a pop-star biopic. Gracey’s exuberant filmmaking and tender empathy produce a fabulously entertaining picture of an insecure man overcoming his demons.

The chimp gimmick distinguishes the project from cookie-cutter biopics and proves far more expressive than most human actors. Sophisticated set pieces deliver emotional information in dynamic ways, though the cradle-to-grave structure falls back on familiar redemptive arcs.

The review calls Better Man one of the best films of the year, praising its bold, fantastical take on the biopic genre and the way the chimpanzee portrayal feels natural rather than gimmicky. It singles out the inventive, story-driven musical sequences and the raw honesty about fame and personal struggles for particular praise.

The critic finds that the bold choice of depicting Williams as a CGI monkey revitalizes the stale music biopic genre, making it transcendent through innovative storytelling and visual effects.

The critic praises the inventive choice of casting a CGI monkey as Robbie Williams in this musical biopic, noting it works surprisingly well and elevates the familiar story with dazzling musical numbers and strong performances.

The critic appreciates the film's wild, maximalist approach and the clever monkey conceit that literalizes Williams' self-perception, blending satire and sentiment effectively in a unique biopic.

The critic finds the eccentric biopic formulaic yet elevated by the CGI chimpanzee lead and Gracey's musical direction, making it rapturous with standout choreographed numbers.

Admires the ambitious, deranged swing of the biopic starring a CGI ape, its sincere emotional core, and visually mind-shattering musical sequences, calling it unclassifiable but memorable.

The critic praises the innovative CGI monkey portrayal of Robbie Williams as a fresh take on the biopic genre that works surprisingly well, highlighting the musical numbers and motion capture, while noting some predictable biopic elements.

Praises the surprising and euphoric musical numbers but criticizes the monkey conceit as tiring over the film's length, leaving the viewer wanting a more human portrayal despite the creative choice.

The review finds the film an ambitious and often effective musical biopic that stands out thanks to its central gimmick of portraying Robbie Williams as a CGI chimpanzee. It singles out the seamless Wētā effects and the way the monkey conceit underscores the star’s self-loathing for praise, while noting the story still follows familiar biopic beats with mixed success.

The review describes the film as one of the strangest music biopics ever made, an overstuffed mix of jukebox musical, conventional biopic and darker character study that only partially succeeds. It singles out the unmotivated monkey conceit and tonal clashes for criticism while acknowledging the chutzpah of the big swing.

The review highlights the film's confessional nature and use of scale to make the biopic personal yet stylized, noting its metatextuality, strong performances, and how it blurs lines between literal and figurative in depicting the subject's demons.

The critic praises the film's inventive biopic approach with a CGI monkey protagonist, its honest portrayal of Williams' troubles, impressive musical sequences, and emotional depth that connects personally.