Robbie Williams made a monkey out of himself in this new film, which was a colossal flop at the box office. Making Director Michael Gracy’s creative home run attempt, a slip-up on its own banana peel.
BETTER MAN is one of the more audacious spins on the music biopic in recent years. Rather than going the more tradition routes of Elton John (“Rocketman”) or Elvis Presley (“Elvis”), for some reason the British popstar Robbie Williams is portrayed by a CGI chimpanzee in this Michael Gracey’s film.
The Paramount Pictures release, produced for $110 million and acquired by Paramount for $25 million, didn’t catch on in the United States. It tanked, with $1.1 million in ticket sales from 1,291 locations. But the ironic twist is that the misguided monkey movie was very positively reviewed by critics, and the very few people who actually went out to see it.
I guess most potential movie-fans weren’t evolved enough to get the movie’s point. Which still isn’t clear to me either…