Despite what it seemed, Better Man, the strangest musical biopic, has garnered very positive reviews

Since Bohemian Rhapsody premiered in 2018, Hollywood has fully entered the era of musical biopics, taking advantage of any famous singer to turn their life into a movie. Just next year, we have the new biopics of Michael Jackson and Bob Dylan on the horizon, making it clear that this is a phenomenon far from fading away.

Subscribe to the Softonic newsletter and get the latest in tech, gaming, entertainment and deals right in your inbox.

Subscribe (it's FREE) ►

However, first we will see a very special movie that, despite being a musical biopic, offers something very different (and strange) from the rest: Better Man. Directed by Michael Gracey, the film will premiere on January 1st and will bring Robbie Williams’ life to the screen. Only with a small addition: the protagonist is played by… a monkey.

That it’s a monkey is the least of it

Despite the unusual nature of the proposal, the movie has already been seen by critics, and they couldn’t be clearer. With 92% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, everyone agrees that it’s a great film. And this is what they say:

“A biographical film about Robbie Williams in which he plays himself as a computer-generated monkey shouldn’t work, but director Michael Gracey defies all expectations and delivers an incredibly inspired and surprisingly emotional film. Better Man is by far the best musical of 2024” – Bill Bria, Discussing Film

“If you could take your eyes off the screen long enough to look at the stopwatch, not a minute would pass without a funny, ridiculous, surprising, or emotional gesture appearing” – Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times

“It turns out it’s a bit easier to face the harsh reality when it’s told to you by a monkey in a suit” – Clarisse Loughrey, Independent

“A fantastic (and fanciful) version of a classic rise-and-fall biopic, where the fact that its subject is portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee (while everyone else is human) is one of the less striking aspects” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy