'Better Man' review: You'll go ape over this offbeat Robbie Williams biopic

If it’s true that your age freezes the day you become famous, then the British pop star Robbie Williams is stuck at 16. So he says near the end of “Better Man," the biopic he produced. “I’m unevolved," he confesses. No kidding — throughout the entire film, Williams is portrayed as an ape.

Well, technically, he’s played by Jonno Davies, an ebullient young actor. But thanks to the magic of CGI, Williams is transformed into a walking, talking, weeping, cursing, skirt-chasing, beer-chugging, drug-snorting ape. It’s a startling sight, not only for its realism (thanks to a couple of Weta FX staffers whose credits include the “Planet of the Apes" franchise) but also for its surrealism: nobody ever mentions it. As biopics go, “Better Man" is truly gonzo — make that Bonzo — but its central metaphor turns out to be much more than a gimmick.

But wait — Robbie who? Williams is a near-total unknown in America despite reaching superstar status nearly everywhere else. For us Yanks, then, his story will feel fresh even as it traces a familiar arc. First we see little Robbie abandoned by his dad, a would-be crooner named Peter (a terrific Steve Pemberton). As an attention-starved teen, Williams joins Take That, soon to become England’s hottest boy band. The transition from working-class drudgery to Technicolor fame is marked by “Rock DJ," a dazzlingly inventive musical number (filmed on London’s Regent Street) that employs everything from gumballs to double-decker buses to senior citizens on scooters. The cast of thousands may be digitally enhanced, but then again so’s our hero.

Directed by Michael Gacey (in a triumphant bounce-back from 2017’s low-energy musical “The Greatest Showman"), “Better Man" is a rollicking, rude-humored, wonderfully irreverent movie — the “Trainspotting" of rock biopics. The real Williams narrates, and he’s searingly honest about nearly everything, including the mess he made of his relationship with pop-star Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno) and his puppy-dog worship of Oasis’ Liam Gallagher (Leo Harvey-Elledge), who would later marry her. Williams’ desperation for approval comes out strongest when he brings several pandering songs to producer Guy Chambers (Tom Budge), who encourages him to write something honest instead. “A song’s only valuable if it costs you something," Chambers says. They’ll go on to write “Angels," a 1997 power ballad that’s still the singer's biggest hit.

Meanwhile, Williams' self-loathing is right there on screen: In a world of humans, he’s a lumbering knuckle dragger. It surely takes guts for a major star to cast himself not as he’d like to be seen, but as he sees himself. How poetic it would be if “Better Man" became the hit that finally drove America ape for Robbie Williams.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com@raferguzman