Better Man (2024)

Better Man (2024). 2h 14m | R

“Thereu0026#39;s something about the use of the monkey to characterise Robbie Williams that makes this quite a visceral watch at times. The film tells the story of the fairly turbulent rise of this u0026quot;Take Thatu0026quot; singer from boyhood exponent of Gilbert and Sullivan to a man on the right end of an £80 millions record deal. His dad (Steve Pemberton) went off to a football match whilst he was a child and never came back, and that left him with his mum u0026quot;Janetu0026quot; (Kate Mulvany) and adoring nan (Alison Steadman) living a pretty much hand to mouth existence and leaving him with a pretty solid foundation for his later emotional and trust issues. Unless youu0026#39;ve lived on the moon these last twenty years, then youu0026#39;ll know much of what happens next. What does make this stand out a little more is the fact that Williams himself is behind the project and is in no way afraid to portray himself as a complete ass. His drink, drugs, tantrums and generally spoilt brattishness are laid bare with little, if any, attempt to sanitise. In some ways it reminded me of the recent u0026quot;Amyu0026quot; biopic and came hot on the heels of a recent viewing of u0026quot;Easter Paradeu0026quot; (1948) with both serving, for completely different reasons, to augment the thrust of this story of a person who attained great stardom, success and wealth – and ultimately ended up with addictions galore and few, real, friends amidst a sea of hangers-on and parasites all too eager to selfishly cash in on the fame of a lad who started aged just fifteen. Of course itu0026#39;s not exactly balanced, and Iu0026#39;m sure the gospel according to Robbie might not be quite how others see their own behaviour (or his) but there is an honesty to this that brings home just how ruthless the music business is and at just how fickle fame can be when those we idolise lose their lustre. It doesnu0026#39;t do it any harm that many of his solo songs work well through big screen audio with some classy string arrangements and powerful vocals to remind us that, unlike many of the largely forgotten u0026quot;Take Thatu0026quot; singles, his music – especially the stuff he made with Guy Chambers – is the stuff we will really long remember. Itu0026#39;s not for the faint hearted, but still well worth a watch.”