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Better Man

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7.8/10 • 563

2024-12-062h 15m

MusicDrama

Fame makes monkeys of us all.

Follow Robbie Williams' journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.

Directors
Michael Gracey
Writters
Simon Gleeson, Michael Gracey, Oliver Cole
Editors
Simon Gleeson, Michael Gracey, Oliver Cole, Patrick Correll

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Robbie Williams

    Robbie Williams

    Robbie Williams (voice)

  2. Jonno Davies

    Jonno Davies

    Robbie Williams

  3. Steve Pemberton

    Steve Pemberton

    Peter

  4. Alison Steadman

    Alison Steadman

    Betty

  5. Kate Mulvany

    Kate Mulvany

    Janet

  6. Frazer Hadfield

    Frazer Hadfield

    Nate

  7. Damon Herriman

    Damon Herriman

    Nigel Martin-Smith

  8. Raechelle Banno

    Raechelle Banno

    Nicole Appleton

  9. Tom Budge

    Tom Budge

    Guy Chambers

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Dec 28, 2024

7/10

There'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 "Take That" 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 "Janet" (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 you've lived on the moon these last twenty years, then you'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 "Amy" biopic and came hot on the heels of a recent viewing of "Easter Parade" (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 it's not exactly balanced, and I'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 doesn'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 "Take That" singles, his music - especially the stuff he made with Guy Chambers - is the stuff we will really long remember. It's not for the faint hearted, but still well worth a watch.

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$110,000,000.00
Revenue
$22,541,033.00
Keywords
depressiondrug addictionmusicalbiographyfamily abandonmentdrugsmonkeyteenage boypop musicprice of famegirl groupboy band1980s1990sarrested developmentself-harmfather son relationshipmother son relationship2000sgrandmother grandson relationshipbased on real personbased on real events