Getting back to my favorite musical moments from 2024 films, here’s the second I’ve featured from a movie about a musician.
The film is Better Man and the musician is Robbie Williams, a hugely successful British pop star who is completely off the radar of most Americans. This is a guy who held the record for the UK’s largest stadium show yet has never had a song on the Billboard Top 40.
Better Man is a traditional biopic in a lot of ways, including the familiar arc of childhood striver to superstar to drug addict crippled by fame to superstar in recovery with a renewed sense of self.
Two things set the film apart. One is that Williams is portrayed as an ape throughout the film, a fact that goes unnoticed by the humans surrounding him. This serves as a metaphor for the artist as a performing chimp, and also neatly allows the film to cover four decades without any casting changes.
The second is that several of the film’s musical numbers are turned into elaborate spectacles of the sort you’d find in a traditional musical (the movie is a bit like the Elton John biopic Rocketman in that regard, though I think this one doesn’t push the conceit quite as far).
My favorite musical set piece comes relatively early, when Williams has joined the boy band Take That and they are starting to hit it big. Their rise to stardom is depicted in an unbroken take of them bursting onto Regent Street and performing the song ‘Rock DJ’ while dancing on gumballs, riding scooters, and turning the city into their personal playground.
Here’s an excerpt:
Me with the floor show kicking with your torso
Boys getting high and the girls even more so
Wave your hands if you’re not with the man
Can I kick it? (Yes you can)
I got (funk), you got (soul)
We got everybody
I’ve got the gift gonna stick it in the goal
It’s time to move your body
[Pre-Chorus]
Babylon back in business
Can I get a witness?
Every girl, every man (hoo-hoo, hoo-ooo)
Houston, do you hear me?
Ground control, can you feel me?
Need permission to land
[Chorus]
I don’t wanna rock DJ
But you’re making me feel so nice
When’s it gonna stop DJ
‘Cause you’re keeping me up all night
[Verse 2]
Singing in the classes, music for your masses
Give no head no backstage passes
Have a proper giggle I’ll be quite polite
But when I rock the mic, I rock the mic (Right)
You got no love then you’re with the wrong man
It’s time to move your body
If you can’t get a girl but your best friend can
It’s time to move your body
[Pre-Chorus]
I don’t wanna be sleazy, baby just tease me
Got no family planned
Houston, do you hear me?
Ground control, can you feel me?
Need permission to land
[Chorus]
I don’t wanna rock (rock) DJ (DJ)
But you’re making me feel so nice
When’s it gonna stop (stop) DJ (DJ)
‘Cause you’re keeping me up all night
[Chorus]
I don’t wanna rock (rock) DJ (DJ)
But you’re making me feel so nice
When’s it gonna stop (stop) DJ (DJ)
‘Cause you’re keeping me up all night
[Bridge]
Pimping ain’t easy, most of them fleece me
Every night
Pimping ain’t easy
But if you’re selling it (selling it, selling it)
It’s alright
[Pre-Chorus]
Come on
[Chorus]
I don’t wanna rock (rock) DJ (DJ)
But you’re making me feel so nice
When’s it gonna stop (stop) DJ (DJ)
‘Cause you’re keeping me up all night
[Chorus]
I don’t wanna rock (rock) DJ (DJ)
But you’re making me feel so nice
When’s it gonna stop (stop) DJ (DJ)
‘Cause you’re keeping me up all night
Meet Me In Montauk 
I’m intrigued by this movie. Might have to check it out.
I was curious whether this gimmick was proving successful so did a quick Google search… apparently not.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/hollywood/made-for-110-million-earned-just-15-million-better-man-robbie-williams-biopic-became-2025s-first-box-office-bomb-101737710866830.html
The movie didn’t even break 6 million in England where he’s a star. Clearly they needed much better marketing. Your post has actually piqued my interest. Maybe they should recruit you to the team.
I didn’t know what to make of this when I saw the trailer except that I didn’t want to see it 🤷♀️ sounds like I had company
Yay 🙂 Absolutely loved this – best biopic of the year in my opinion!
Just finally got around to watching this on an airplane. I liked it quite a bit. My fave musical moment may be the sequence where he falls in love with his female counterpart, or the wonderfully schmaltzy final number.