Better Man, surprisingly, is a biopic based on real-life performer Robbie Williams that is so generic that you would be forgiven for thinking it was parody. I sat through the entire movie, having no memory that Robbie Williams was an actual human being, trying to pull out threads of what this movie was trying to say and feeling baffled by how generic it felt. Then, I saw the pictures of the very real performer during the credits and had my mind blown that this was supposed to be a true story.

Co-written and produced by Michael Gracey of Greatest Showman fame, Better Man tells the story of British pop star Robbie Williams. We get to follow his journey as a young child with an obsession with fame imprinted on him by an unloving father figure as he grows up to join a boy band, depart to start a solo career, start a family, and crash and burn from escalating drug use along the way. As a twist, Robbie Williams is depicted as a chimpanzee for the entire film and you can hopefully forgive me for thinking that this film might have been trying to say something by telling such a paint-by-numbers story with such a cartoonish central figure.

Unfortunately, Better Man never does anything with this twist. The movie runs through to the end and never manages to use it as commentary or framing. It's honestly the strangest thing about the entire movie. You get to the end and with nothing being done with the chimpanzee except to 100% deadpan tell a story that feels like a recreation of countless other biopics. My personal speculation is that the main purpose of the gimmick is to allow Robbie Williams to play himself without having to worry about the aging star playing himself through the decades and decades of his life. Honestly, for most of the movie you could almost forget that you're looking at a CGI chimp.

Chimpanzee is in the room aside, and Better Man is fine. It's approached with a performative flare that is entertaining to watch. I regularly laughed at the jokes and found the human drama of the character relatable. The film even has moments that connect with genuine emotion and I teared up. The musical numbers aren't unforgettable, but they're bright and fun enough to light up the theater with some big dance numbers.

I felt like something was missing from the end. The standard drug addiction and abuse are resolved almost performatively on Robbie's path to redemption and it just never feels like his real problems are addressed.

Overall, Better Man is fine. Just... fine. Ironically this chimp lacks teeth and despite being entertaining to watch it left me feeling like nothing important had happened. I could have been watching Bohemian Rhapsody, Walk the Line, or any number of other biopics, and my life would have been no different. That leaves me a bit sad because the pieces were there to build something that could have been so much more or said something interesting. But, that's just me wishing for something to be more than it is, and there's nothing particularly wrong with enjoying dry toast from time to time.