FILM
BETTER MAN
Totally bananas.
LET ROBBIE-WILLIAMS-AS-A-CHIMP ENTERTAIN YOU
★★★★
OUT 26 DECEMBER / CERT 15 / 134 MINS
DIRECTOR
Michael Gracey
CAST
Jonno Davies, Robbie Williams, Steve Pemberton, Alison Steadman, Damon Herriman, Raechelle Banno
PLOT
Coming from humble beginnings, Robbie Williams (Davies) — in CG chimp form — finds fame as a pop star and wrestles with his demons.
WE’RE JUST A few minutes into Better Man when the eight-year-old Robert Williams —very much played by a CG chimp —is abandoned by his father. Williams steps out onto the streets of Stoke-on-Trent singing ‘Feel’, a song by the pop star he will later become. And despite none of that making sense on paper, your heart shatters. His shoulders slump and his green, glassy, watery eyes plead for protection as the strings swell. “I just wanna feel real love, feel the home that I live in,” he sings. It’s hard not to love him.