The Best Musical of 2025… and Nobody Saw It

Forget Wick: For Good.

That movie musical will be just fine without me. Instead, I want to tell you about why the biggest box office bomb of the year is also my favorite movie musical of 2025.

Robbie Williams Deserved Better (Man) 

When I tell people about this movie, the first thing they say is "Was that the monkey movie?" Yeah it is. It's called Better Man (2024)*. Now shut up and give me a shot at convincing you to watch this film.

Better Man is a musical biopic about Robbie Williams. Now, maybe you were like me and your first thought is "Who?" If so, congrats, you can just watch it as an original musical with new original songs you've never heard before. Watch it through that lens and you might discover a hidden gem of a film that was "way better than it should have been." Otherwise, here's some Robbie Williams accolades if that sort of thing sways you:

He is one of the best-selling British solo artists ever, with over 75 million records sold.

He holds the Guinness World Record for the most concert tickets sold in a single day, with 1.6 million tickets in 24 hours.

He has won more BRIT Awards (Britain’s equivalent of the Grammys) than any other artist in history, with 18.

Better Man is a wild and surprisingly emotional music biopic where Williams is portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee because that's literally how fame made him feel. Like a performing monkey. I know that sounds insane. But it works. The movie uses that metaphor to show the pressure, self loathing, addictions and monumental highs of being one of the biggest pop stars in the world. It's not some bland "rise and fall" musician story with too many unmotivated cuts in a scene. It's a surreal and shockingly moving film where the musical numbers really go for it. But instead of being glossy and sanitized (like director Michael Gracey's previous musical The Greatest Showman) it digs into Williams insecurities, panic attacks and the ways he blew up his own life at times.

Here is why it works: since he's portrayed as a CGI monkey, Robbie Williams was able to voice himself. All the showmanship, charisma, and cheeky British humor exudes from his vocal performance. This isn't a posthumous musical biopic where you have to suspend belief. It's a performance where the artist is able to relive the heartbreak throughout his career and come out on the other side as a changed monkey. And the audience feels it. That combination of CGI monkey and musical artist voicing himself creates some real genuine magic.

And yet none of you watched it. How do I know? Because the film made $2.2 million domestically in the U.S. for its entire theatrical run. According to Box office Mojo, the 2025 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action block made more money earlier this year. And Better Man had a production budget of $110 million dollars. In its 2nd weekend of release, the film dropped an insane -76% with just $255k in US revenue.

The issue? It's on Paramount Plus. The streamer your parents have to watch Yellowstone and maybe some new Star Trek if that isn't too woke for them. But please, ask to borrow someone's password and watch this film. And do me one favor: play it as loud as humanly possible. Because when you do, I'd bet you'll wish you saw it in a packed theater.

Scene Study - Better Man (2024) 

The following scene is one of many moments that gave me goosebumps throughout the film. The scene takes place right after he walks out on the boy-band Take That. An exit that should’ve been liberating but instead sends him spiraling.

The following is from the Better Man screenplay, pages 53 and 54:

This scene captures Robbie’s complete emotional collapse, blending realism and surrealism until his inner breakdown becomes indistinguishable from the world around him. The more unhinged Robbie feels, the more the world blurs to reflect it. Fog blocks out the sun. Headlights multiply. The road stops following all logic.

The moment the speeding bus appears in reverse and filled with Manchester United fans as his father conducts them, the scene fully crosses into psychological fantasy. It collapses time. It's not just Robbie fleeing a boy-band but it’s also him outrunning every unresolved wound that fame only made louder.

And then comes the wall of water.

Driving through it becomes the perfect visual metaphor for hitting rock bottom. It all dissolves. There’s no more runway. Just the weight of everything he’s been carrying finally pulling him under until he quite literally “comes undone.”

*I know Better Man technically had a limited release on December 25, 2024. But it didn’t go wide until January 10, 2025 so I’m officially claiming it as my favorite musical of 2025.