Apparently, it depends on who you ask. Upon the release of its promo materials, the 2024 biopic was initially met with major online ridicule, with many netizens asking: “Who is Robbie Williams?” The film has since been well-received, with an overwhelmingly positive 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, for as acclaimed as the film seems to be, I was shocked by its dramatic financial failure, grossing a mere $20.3 million worldwide from its hefty $110 million budget. Paramount’s huge investment in telling the British pop star’s story to an American audience suggests they either really believed in Robbie Williams’ impact as a cultural icon or needed a major box-office bomb to use as a tax write-off. Although I do believe the film’s failure is in part a byproduct of US-centrism, I have to admit I struggle to qualify Robbie Williams as “one of the greats,” as he refers to the world-renowned artists who inspired him.
And I mean, we are seriously talking about the greatest singers of all time here—Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. Robbie Williams (portrayed as a CGI monkey, in case you missed it) continually expresses his deepest admiration for these men and the impact they have had on the world of music, though this desire to make genuine music is bastardized by his gluttonous appetite for fame. This dirty little vice—in addition to his alcohol dependency—is inherited from his father, who walked out on the family in Robbie’s youth to pursue his own singing career. Though Robbie depicts his ascent to stardom as a noble pursuit, his story and reputation are sullied by reports of his hardcore drug problem, poor decision-making, and incredibly massive ego.
This is not to say that Robbie Williams was not a wildly successful entertainer in the late 90s and early 2000s. He has certainly earned the rights to be a bit cocky, receiving a total of eighteen Brit Awards, four of those being for Best British Male Artist. In the biopic, he cites one of his greatest achievements being his infamous three-night performance at Knebworth Park, which drew a total audience of about 375,000 fans. Certainly, Robbie Williams was at one point a house-hold name in Britain, and throughout much of Europe.
However, I struggle to agree that his impact as an artist has stood the test of time quite as well as some of his muses, like Martin or Davis Jr. As one netizen pointed out, in the final performance of the film that is meant to cement Williams as a permanent cultural icon, he sings My Way by Frank Sinatra, rather than one of his originals. While I actually quite enjoyed the film, and much of William’s discography that was sprinkled throughout the soundtrack, I have to admit–I had never heard a single Robbie Williams song up until that point.
Despite my hesitancy to call Robbie Williams “one of the greats,” I will give it to him that his story makes for an interesting watch. Williams’s cheeky asides mesh nicely with the film’s more serious themes of drug abuse and exploitation in the entertainment industry, creating both hilarious moments of dialogue and genuine moments of discomfort as Williams recounts the struggle of his drug and alcohol addictions.
Overall, would I recommend this film to others? Yes–but be prepared to walk out of the theater still not really knowing who this guy is, or why there is a two-hour long biopic about him.
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