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Chris Gore and Alan Ng review “Better Man,” coming to theaters January 17.
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0:03
now
0:04
Allan you told me you wanted to do the
0:06
synopsis for this movie tell me the
0:09
story of better man which apparently
0:12
involves a monkey yes there it is right
0:15
in the poster there so betterman is the
0:19
biopic of a popular British singer
0:21
Robbie Williams who is Robbie Williams I
0:24
don't know I've never heard of him up
0:25
until this movie uh I find out that
0:28
Robbie Williams basically
0:30
began uh his career began as the singer
0:33
in a boy band called take that and uh
0:38
the problem was is the boy band existed
0:40
right as grunge became a thing so
0:43
essentially take that became he be with
0:45
take that he is kind of the last of the
0:47
boy bands so let me ask you this
0:50
question Chris um this story is about a
0:54
young man who uh who is a talented
0:56
singer uh who is thrust into Fame uh
1:00
what themes do you think what elements
1:03
of the story do you think appear in this
1:06
movie wait wait wait don't tell me yeah
1:09
don't don't no hints no hints does it
1:13
involve drugs and drinking and
1:17
women yes it does and guess what happens
1:19
to him uh Midway through the
1:22
movie okay does he have problems with
1:25
drugs and alcohol and women yes he does
1:30
there you go um yeah okay so I'll say
1:33
this betterman is uh is a typical story
1:37
about a a rocker uh whose life spins out
1:41
of control we've seen it many many many
1:45
times uh the difference here is uh for a
1:49
for a reason that will become known uh
1:51
they decide to portray Robbie Williams
1:53
as a chimpanzee so from the very
1:56
beginning to the very end of this movie
1:58
he is a chimpanzee z um and there's
2:02
reason for it and and I I'll I'll say
2:04
that at the beginning of the movie I
2:06
have no idea why they is I think it was
2:08
the idea that uh he was a monkey and
2:10
that he that his career was just trying
2:12
to please other people especially his
2:15
father there's daddy issues in this um
2:17
but it isn't until the end that you
2:18
really see the culmination of why Robbie
2:22
Williams is is a monkey
2:25
um I like this movie I really do like
2:27
this movie A lot of it has to do with
2:29
the music it comes from the director of
2:31
the greatest showman and it has that
2:33
feel and that vibe to it uh there so in
2:37
the movie he joins this boy band called
2:40
uh take that uh and in the middle of the
2:43
movie there's this incredible music
2:46
video of him and the boy singing a song
2:49
running through London um and H do the
2:53
magic of computers and CG this is the
2:56
Highlight to me of this movie it's just
2:58
this one video that that scene is
3:02
incredible incredible the song there
3:05
there there there are just subtle
3:06
nuances that occur during the song that
3:08
it's just like oh my God this guy knows
3:10
how to make a music video and how to
3:12
make an exciting one um the the other
3:15
thing I'll say is that Robbie Williams
3:17
what makes him special and unique
3:19
compared to all other boy banders is uh
3:21
he has a deep love of uh of the classic
3:25
music of like Sinatra he's basically the
3:29
uh would call him a cooler uh Michael
3:32
blé and I think it what makes him cooler
3:34
is because he was a drug addict had
3:36
problems with women uh and things like
3:39
that there's a bit of a darker Edge to
3:41
him than than Michael bé uh so yeah this
3:44
movie is by the book uh the only thing
3:47
special about it is this chimpanzee
3:49
which pays off at the end and uh and I
3:52
had a I had a fun time the music is
3:54
fantastic in this movie uh and it over
3:57
from start to finish it looks uh it
3:59
looks good uh it looks better than than
4:02
most biopics um and this one is
4:04
different in terms of like a a complete
4:07
unknown is a segment a couple years like
4:10
five years of Bob Dylan's life um this
4:12
is Robbie Williams entire career uh and
4:15
it's so it plays out like a typical
4:17
biopic but I think they do enough
4:19
special things about it and the music is
4:21
good enough to to Warrant me giving it a
4:23
very enthusiastic
4:25
recommendation well I also like you
4:28
loved this movie uh part of the reason
4:31
for the the monkey thing is a little
4:34
weird at first because no one
4:36
acknowledges he's a monkey just is there
4:39
are a couple reasons for that one Robbie
4:42
Williams always said that like I'm like
4:44
a performing monkey the other thing that
4:46
I heard is only a rumor um that he
4:49
didn't want anyone else to play him in a
4:53
biopic so essentially he had this
4:57
representation of a monkey like a
4:59
trained monkey what's weird is it makes
5:02
a lot of the scenes more poignant like
5:04
he has trouble with women and you see
5:06
that play out it's just a movie we've
5:09
seen a million times so many times
5:12
before but with him as a monkey and it
5:16
works and I was not familiar at all with
5:19
Robbie Williams or the boy band that he
5:21
came from but
5:23
uh uh so so I'm new to this but I
5:27
recognize some of the songs that
5:30
sequence you talked about through the
5:31
Streets of London they had to shut down
5:34
the street they did it had to rehearse
5:36
it twice they had to redo it twice this
5:39
is also an independent movie the guy who
5:42
made it the director um his name Michael
5:46
Gracie did greatest showman no one would
5:49
Finance this movie so it was completely
5:51
independently done so kudos to him for
5:54
that yeah I was blown away and I was
5:56
really really taken with the whole thing
5:59
like you're sitting here and getting
6:01
emotional over a monkey doing drugs
6:04
having problems with women then there's
6:06
the big musical numbers it shows him
6:09
doing these huge music festivals in
6:11
front of like 100,000 people like it's
6:15
how they made this it's a technical
6:18
achievement yeah and so I love it yeah
6:23
the story itself the the thing I
6:25
appreciate most about the story is just
6:28
how self-aware Robbie Williams is in
6:30
terms of allowing allowing what is seen
6:33
in this movie to make it into the movie
6:36
takes a great deal of humility and and
6:38
pure lack of ego because he he is a dick
6:42
he is an a-hole and um and it and you
6:48
see you see that all as that
6:50
self-defense that self-defense mechanism
6:53
in his life and again the the the monkey
6:56
tro the monkey uh gimmick here uh at the
6:59
very end at the biggest moment in his
7:02
life you see uh it all just comes
7:04
together of why he is portraying himself
7:07
as a as a monkey at the end and uh it to
7:10
me that's just smart storytelling it's
7:12
unexpected storytelling and that's what
7:14
I like to come to the movies for yeah
7:16
yeah I I I enjoyed it as well I mean
7:18
it's a it's not just a rock biopic but
7:22
also a musical in many sense like a
7:25
series of music videos the other thing
7:26
you're not with the uh one last thing to
7:29
talk about in this film the
7:32
relationships it delves into you know he
7:35
he became famous at 15 and kind of
7:38
emotionally stunted at 15 he's like a
7:41
15-year-old going through his career and
7:44
his relationship with his father the
7:47
consequences of
7:48
that uh his relationship with his mother
7:52
his his parents were uh separated and
7:54
divorced his grandmother
7:57
and how he would watch TV and eat
8:01
chips with his
8:04
grandmother and his you know what he's
8:08
what his family um what they saw him go
8:11
through and how he his love for his
8:14
family and how that sort of led to his
8:16
drive to succeed I
8:19
just and his drug problem for for quite
8:22
his drugs problem his drug problems now
8:25
I didn't expect to like the movie this
8:27
much so this is a after like every time
8:31
i' see a trailer I'm like this looks
8:34
stupid I mean I still think the trailer
8:37
does not look great yeah but the movie
8:41
itself I I just was really taken with it
8:45
well that the trailer it's clearly some
8:47
marketing person saying well the movie
8:49
is about a guy as a monkey so that's
8:52
that's the movie and so that's how we're
8:53
going to promote this film and that's a
8:55
huge mistake well I recommend it eight
8:58
out of 10 for
9:00
because the problem is as you and I both
9:03
said we we we don't know who Robbie
9:05
Williams is and so to sell a singer a
9:08
popular singer from the UK uh to an
9:10
American audience who barely knows who
9:12
this guy is uh it's it's G to be tough
9:14
to do and and they're leaning into the
9:16
monkey aspect of it which I think is a
9:19
mistake well what do you think Allan
9:21
what's your final verdict yeah uh eight
9:23
and a half definitely wow yeah I I love
9:27
this movie I I watched it again and
9:28
still had a good time watching it
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