Better Man
Saban Films | Release Date: December 25, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
37
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RogerEbert.comClint WorthingtonDec 25, 2024
You won’t see another music biopic quite like “Better Man,” regardless of your level of familiarity with its subject. There’s a surfeit of charm here that helps sell the nonsensical gimmick. Read full review
100
Time OutKaleem AftabNov 26, 2024
A fun, bombastic, brilliant choreographed and totally enthralling film. Read full review
91
ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerDec 19, 2024
What’s so inspiring about Better Man is that it represents the culmination of such a smart collection of choices, ones that add up to create a true portrait of an artist. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisDec 25, 2024
Gracey paints a fabulously entertaining and touching picture of an insecure, complicated man hauling himself from a quicksand of grasping fans, greedy impresarios, unresolved addictions and father-son dysfunction. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesAmy NicholsonDec 24, 2024
Even as the movie captures Williams’ recklessness, it’s also a convincing sketch of his artistic growth and commitment. Read full review
89
PolygonTasha RobinsonJan 15, 2025
Most musicals translate emotion into song. This one takes that a step further, translating emotion into a daring central gimmick. It’s experimental and explosive. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJan 9, 2025
Yet for all the bleakness, Better Man is one of the most visually inventive and uplifting films in recent years. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael Andor BrodeurJan 10, 2025
Better Man, a delightfully unhinged musical biopic from director Michael Gracey, chronicles the singer’s tumultuous rise, celebrates his effervescent body of Brit-pop hits, and gives the project of ensconcing Williams in the hearts and minds of the global masses another go. Read full review
85
Film ThreatAlan NgDec 24, 2024
In the end, if you’re going to tell a story we’ve all heard before, do something unique. Better Man is unique, indeed. The chimp gimmick never gets tiresome; in the end, it plays out beautifully. Read full review
85
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiDec 23, 2024
Gracey may film Better Man through a thick veneer of showbiz glitz but — thanks in large part to the fact that, again, the star is a CGI chimpanzee — the film’s heaviest scenes sneak up on you and pack a wallop. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 13, 2024
If Bob Fosse had fallen in love with CGI instead of jazz hands, this is probably the kind of movie he would’ve made. Read full review
80
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiJan 11, 2025
The spectacle doesn’t mean there’s no heart at the story’s core, and it kept me watching despite being overlong. Read full review
80
IGNHanna FlintJan 9, 2025
The bold risk of transforming Robbie Williams into an enjoyable CGI chimp pays off both emotionally and visually. Turning his back catalogue into epic musical numbers with stunning choreography and heart-wrenching storytelling, Better Man comes out swinging and winning. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeJan 2, 2025
The monkey conceit is a success on several levels. It presses home that sense of Williams being an agent of chaos in any environment. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeDec 28, 2024
Better Man is a notable step up for Gracey. The synthetic, rather soulless panache of The Greatest Showman demonstrated his skills as a slick visual stylist, but here he directs from the heart, tapping into the rawness and vulnerability beneath the CGI monkey suit. Read full review
80
Paste MagazineJason GorberDec 25, 2024
Even for the uninitiated the tunes prove to be well presented and peppered in ways that drive the narrative forward, and everything from grand dance sequences to moments cuddling on a couch are done in convincing and effective ways. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinDec 25, 2024
Not all of it clicks, but given how bizarre much of it is – Williams’s 2003 Knebworth gig is interrupted by a platoon of heavily armed monkeys, for instance – the hit rate is impressive. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriDec 25, 2024
There’s an interesting juxtaposition here: a paint-by-numbers biopic structure, neatly bookmarked (to a fault) with pat dialogue about the perils of fame and the double life of stardom and abandonment issues and whatnot, which is then constantly upended by completely batshit musical sequences. Read full review
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyDec 21, 2024
The unexpected advantage here is that, when Williams wants to be truly upfront about his struggles, that veneer of fantasy shields us from the more harrowing details of his life, so that we can confront them yet still enjoy that “right f***ing entertaining”. Read full review
80
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerDec 21, 2024
Better Man is a triumph of cheek and imagination. Gracey attempts much but actually manages to accomplish all that he set out to do. Read full review
80
Little White LiesHannah StrongDec 20, 2024
Better Man works because it is that rare biopic which acknowledges its inherent ridiculousness, poking fun not only at the star machine but Williams himself (who, regardless of your opinion of his music, has always been quite open about his shortcomings). Read full review
80
EmpireAlex GodfreyDec 2, 2024
The most batshit music biopic since Todd Haynes did the Karen Carpenter story with Barbie dolls, Michael Gracey pulls off the biggest cinematic surprise of the year. An absolute blast.  Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 13, 2024
[A] very entertaining, surprisingly moving film. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 13, 2024
Gracey’s involving and immersive direction sweeps us up and out of our seats, refreshing beats that have grown musty in this territory (does every musician have a bad dad and a drug problem?) with endlessly inventive transitions and montages that find ways to offer something unexpected. Read full review
75
The AtlanticDavid SimsJan 22, 2025
Williams has always thrived on the audience’s sympathy as much as their admiration, and Better Man finds a wonderfully goofy way to represent that with its charming, if unevolved, simian star. Read full review
75
ABC NewsPeter TraversJan 10, 2025
In a world of humans, bad boy British pop rocker Robbie Williams casts himself as a computer=generated monkey. Too much? Maybe. But damn, this banger-infused biopic works like gangbusters under the visual magic of director Michael Gracey Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittJan 9, 2025
The movie also has a lot in common with Gracey’s most famous effort, “The Greatest Showman,” featuring well-crafted, effervescent musical numbers doing what they can to make up for oversentimentality and an unfocused narrative. Read full review
75
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckJan 8, 2025
“Let me entertain you,” Williams seems to be screaming through every scene. Mostly, he succeeds. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 25, 2024
Gracey’s bracing style, which invites some interesting observations (such as whether sex scenes featuring Williams-as-a-chimp should be considered bestiality), gives the movie an edge that it never loses even after we have gotten used to the substitution. Read full review
75
SlashfilmJacob HallSep 25, 2024
This is a biopic made by a mad man, filmed in a visual language that defies categorization, with musical numbers that would make Baz Luhrmann dizzy. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyMaureen Lee LenkerSep 13, 2024
Better Man is beautifully emotional and engaging, and it’s an admirably big swing. But it would have a greater shot at making audiences go ape if the primate concept were used more judiciously. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearDec 25, 2024
It’s all a very by-the-books music biopic, which the sole exception of which species is singing about manufacturing miracles and angels contemplating his fate. Read full review
70
ColliderMatt DonatoSep 27, 2024
Better Man is in a category of successful biopic dramatizations all unto itself. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 13, 2024
[Gracey's] angle is frustratingly familiar, though the execution is downright astonishing — we’re talking Wachowski-level ingenuity as Gracey fashions sophisticated montages where you can’t even spot the cuts. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberSep 13, 2024
Given the craziness of the concept, it is surprising that several of the scenes work as well as they do. Read full review
67
Original-CinKim HughesJan 7, 2025
On one hand, its chief conceit is commendably weird: the adult Williams is played by Jonno Davies as a chimpanzee filmed in motion capture, conjured with CGI to humanoid effect, and voiced by its subject. Daring! Yet its story follows a ho-hum biopic trajectory structurally indistinguishable from recent entries such as Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineRocco T. ThompsonOct 2, 2024
Walking a dizzying line between the stupid and the profound, this exuberant, positively unique biopic is as hard to resist as it is to believe that it got made in the first place. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawDec 25, 2024
The film is interestingly candid about the toxic, driving force of envy behind a musical career – something many music biopics omit – but in the end, however initially startling and amusing, Robbie-as-chimp feels like a distraction from his all-too-human unhappiness and talent. Read full review
60
NMEJordan BassettDec 21, 2024
Dodgy depictions of real-life celebs (such as Liam Gallagher) clash with the film’s fantastical tone, which itself can’t support Gracey’s attempt to address serious topics. Read full review
58
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodSep 13, 2024
While the musical elements often take the movie to impressive artistic heights, it’s not just the storyline that ends up hindering Better Man. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 13, 2025
After the first blush of how cute this conceit is . . . Better Man becomes a simple catalog of pop stardom clichés. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussJan 8, 2025
Well, there’s one way for a biopic about a self-loathing, self-aggrandizing, self-pitying and self-involved music star seem different: Make him an ape. Read full review
More From This Movie

77 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL