Starring Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, and Kate Mulvany
Directed by Michael Gracey
Music and Lyrics by various
Our first theatrical musical of 2025 is another rock biography, but is otherwise a very different animal than A Complete Unknown...literally, given its lead is depicted as a walking, talking ape. British rock star Robbie Williams got his start as part of boy band Take That, but he really rocketed to celebrity when he went solo in the mid-late 90's. He thought fame would make him the man he'd always wanted to be, but he was haunted by his insecurities and self-medicated with drugs and alcohol instead. How does the story of how he survived his demons look nowadays, with a string of similar stories having already come and gone? Let's begin with a distinctly simian Williams (Davies) explaining how he always felt less "evolved" than others and find out...
The Story: As a child growing up in Stoke-On-Trent, England, Robert Williams wanted nothing more to be a singer like his idol Frank Sinatra. His father Peter (Pemberton) is obsessed with Sinatra and the idea of fame, claiming to his son that the admiration of the audience is everything. Robert is devastated when he walks away from the family to become a stand-up comic and misses his debut in the school play.
Years later, Robert drops out of high school to audition for a boy band. He's almost rejected, but gruff manager Nigel Martin-Smith (Damon Herriman) likes his spunk and hires him. Robert is rechristened Robbie, and becomes the wild "bad boy" of the phenomenally successful Take That. They start out in gay clubs, but by the time they're playing for sold-out crowds of screaming girls, they're an international success.
Robbie, however, is still filled with doubt and wants more creative control. He finally breaks with the group and goes solo. At first, his solo career seems destined for success. He falls for singer Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno) of the group All-Saints, reconnects with his father, and makes a comeback with the help of songwriter Guy Chambers (Tom Budge). Unfortunately, his solo success does nothing to help his inner demons. His father encourages his drinking and debauchery, Nicole leaves him over his cheating, and his beloved grandmother Betty (Alison Steadiman) dies. After a disastrous concert at Knebworth, Robbie realizes that fame is a double-edged sword...and the only person who really needs to love him is himself.
The Song and Dance: First of all, I will admit that, while not a huge fan of Williams or Take That, I had friends who were fans of Williams in the early-mid 2000's and remember hearing music from both on the radio in the 90's and early 2000's. Maybe that's why I enjoyed this as much as I did. I'm familiar enough with Williams' work for this to not be a total surprise, but aren't a big enough fan to know every detail of his life.
The motion capture work on this was incredible. Yes, it looks like there's an ape doing flips and dancing on city streets and crying into his grandmother's arms. Davies and Williams do well conveying Robert's pain, while Pemberton does the best of the supporting cast as his father who is obsessed with fame, to the detriment of his relationship with his son. I also give them credit for trying something different with the musical biography format, and for being brave enough to get into fairly dark turf with what's going on in Robbie's simian head.
The Numbers: Our first actual number is the Sinatra standard "My Way." Nine-year-old Robert and his father perform it side-by-side in their living room. They reprise it in the end onstage, singing together for the first time since then. Robert gives us a boisterous "I am the Pirate King" with his classmates after nearly passing out on entrance. Alas, his father never sees it, leading Robert to perform "Feel" as he laments his father abandoning his family.
"I Found Heaven" is our first chorus number and the first song with Take That. Robbie and the others sing it in rehearsal, then for those sleazy gay clubs when Robbie realizes he's finally found a place that accepts him for what he is. "Rock DJ" is a massive song and dance all over London after Take That is signed to a major contract, as the boys dance and sing with half the kids in England and show off their more famous concert costumes. Robbie wants to "Relight My Fire" when he leaves the band, but nearly "Comes Undone" during a wild hallucination of driving at insane speeds and ending up trapped under the ice.
"She's the One" is another massive number, this one a romantic pas-de-deux with Nicole on a gold and white yacht...that's contrasted with their life as he has affairs and she has an abortion. Robbie wishes it would turn into "Something Beautiful," but it's not to be. The classic rock standard "Land of 1000 Dances" gives us another montage, this one of Robbie's increasingly insane performances and his destructive lifestyle. Robbie's best-known songs, the ballad "Angels," plays over his grandmother's funeral and his break-up with Nicole.
"Let Me Entertain You" begins with him suspended over the crowd at Knebworth and ends with him literally fighting every single version of himself who ever repeated negative self-talk. "Better Man" gets him into a rehab as he finally makes up with his former band mates and his parents. We get Williams' new "Forbidden Road" over end credits photos of the real human entertainer.
What I Don't Like: First of all, while Williams still has a fair-sized fan base in England, he's not that well-known in the US. I'm surprised Paramount even wanted to put this in the theater over here. I suspect this might have done better catering to niche audiences on Paramount Plus. It's also not for young boy band fans. There's copious nudity, swearing, drinking, and drugs. Start your older kids on Williams and Take That's albums before coming anywhere near here.
I suspect the real reason this is flopping the box office is it's sometimes too darn weird for its own good. Despite how well they pull it off, just the idea of a rock idol being played by a CGI ape may be enough to put many people off. It's also way too long, with the second half in particular after he goes solo and falls for Nicole dragging like crazy. Some of the story is muddled, and you never know if it happened, or it's all in Robbie's head.
The Big Finale: I hope this does better on home media and streaming. It's a truly unique gamble that Gracey and Williams manage to pull off spectacularly, and deserves a lot more than the head-scratching it's getting right now.
Home Media: There's no release date for the film yet, but the soundtrack will be out February 7th.
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