Bradley Robb
  • Projects
  • About
« Film Collection
Film Notes »
Better Man

Better Man

Release Year: 2024

Synopsis: 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.

Ratings:
BradScore: 6.5/10 Internet Rating: 7.7/10
Drama Music
Michael Gracey
Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Alison Steadman, Kate Mulvany, Frazer Hadfield, Damon Herriman, Raechelle Banno, Tom Budge, Jake Simmance

My notes

Started late and only intended to watch 10-15 minutes, but got sucked in for an hour (the edible and wine helped with that), finished on Feb 22.

This one was surprisingly effective. The gimmick never really feels like a gimmick, and potentially helped with the metaphor of struggling with his own past. At least visually.

As one of the few American Robbie Williams fans, the narrative did a nice job of adding color to the surface level understanding I had of his personal life.

The ending came late, a truncated third act that immediately launched into a rewarded and solid Robbie at the Swing When You're Winning concert, which made it feel a schmaltzy and downplayed the difficulty of addiction recovery.

Biopics, especially musical ones, haven't had much to say since Dewey Cox, and doesn't reverse that trend. It is a good ad for therapy, though.

Watched Feb. 22, 2025 via Streaming — rated 6.5/10
© 2025 Bradley Robb | RSS Atom | Change Log