
Having recently hit cinemas across the world, making countless headlines and lots of award chat along the way, "Better Man", the biopic of much loved Brit pop star Robbie Williams is out there and wowing fans new and old.
British pop star Robbie Williams needs little introduction to most. Rising to fame as a teenager in Take That, one of the most successful British boy bands of the 90s, Robbie was always seen as the cheeky one and the bad boy of the group. Leaving the band, he went on to forge a solo career that defied even his own expectations, with 14 Number One albums in the UK, countless awards. sold out concerts and a massive fan base across the world.
This is no ordinary biopic though, it's one under the visionary direction of Michael Gracey, who many will know from The Greatest Showman fame and much more.
Robbie, never being one to be described as traditional or to play by the rules, is portrayed by a CGI monkey in "Better Man". When initially approached with the idea by Gracey, Robbie thought it was a genius idea, which followed by a little debate over his "spirit animal", resulted in the monkey coming to life!
With some of the most powerful pop songs of the last 20 or so years, "Better Man" serves up the most beautifully delicious two hours of music, emotion and award worthy performances.
Offering a real glimpse behind 'the man', like never before: His childhood, the relationship with his parents and much loved Nan, fighting for his break, early days in Take That and a first taste of fame, falling in love and his ongoing battle with self worth, alcohol, drugs and his own mental health - we may have shed a tear or three and be even more in awe of the man that is Mr Robbie Williams and how far he's come in his own journey of acceptance, self love and forgiveness.
It could quite possibly be the film none of us knew how much we needed, setting the benchmark for all to follow in 2025 very high indeed.

Being given 8 minutes with the man himself at the very end of 2024, the Raemona team, had quite the new year wish come true.
Sitting with the man himself, someone just a little older than ourselves, a person who seemed so familiar as we grew up together in the 90s, enjoying, surviving and suffering all our own life milestones.
It's hard to know what to ask Robbie, who in the midst of a crazy press tour, has likely been asked each and every question 1000 times and more, and who had also stepped off a plane from LA. played a sold out concert in Abu Dhabi, before stepping into a full day of press in the Middle East.
We thanked Robbie for making us cry 3 times in the first 15 minutes, which we do believe wholeheartedly is the sign of a good film and great acting. He said, it was strange indeed having to constantly thank people who said they cried and were filled with emotion during the film.
Us being us, we wanted to focus on the topics that really matter, so we jumped right in to the topic of mental health awareness and how important it was for this to be tackled well in the film, given his struggle with this has been such a key part of his life so far.
Robbie shared very candidly how for so many years he was not allowed to say "he was not ok" and was told to be "grateful". So, just being able to share his truth and the real lived experience of someone who was struggling and no amount of money or success could take that way, was refreshing. The irony is not lost on him as he comes out the other side, that today people are now lorded for speaking up.
Whilst his family is his number one priority, mental health runs through all Robbie does now and he describes it as his life purpose. Being able to talk about how ill he has been and still can be, drives him on.
Even the release of the film, which he's excited about and he describes as very important to him, Robbie admits he's gone through a recent bout of self loathing feeling like a "fat has been". It's really affected him - which he's reflected in his honest social posts saying just the same.
Further on in his journey he has ways of dealing with this and he openly shared some tips with us that he finds useful here, whilst also being honest he could write a whole book on this topic now.
He openly shared how he's been avoiding reading film reviews, for fear of what the critics would say. But his excitement the projects keeps him close to googling to see.
No need to worry Robbie, all the ones we've seen have been great - our own included!

Choosing a favourite scene from the film was a tough one for us - so we had to ask Robbie which one he'd choose.
We didn't agree, but it didn't matter, as they're all brilliant.
He loved the scene one on one with his father in the lake (hopefully many of you have seen it by now and that's not a total spoiler), which definitely was a powerful and emotive one, but wasn't the stand out for us.
We personally went for the power ballad scenes that really hit us, including "You're The One" where he meets Nicole Appleton, and "My Way". "Angels" where he loses his beloved Nan or "My Way" where he comes full circle with his parents and life after hitting rock bottom.
I told him how much I loved that 'Strong Women' have played a key part in "Better Man" and ultimately in Robbie's world, which he was quick to reframe in terms of how he sees it, as "strong" can have the wrong connotations.
In his world "strong" means "beautiful, feminine, compassionate and having unconditional love" and there is nothing stronger in the world that he has experienced than that of "unconditional love" he received from his Nan.
And as it was the end of the year, of course we finished up by asking Mr Williams what his WISH (not resolution!) for 2025 was.
Robbie's in a good place. Since he turned 45 he really feels like a different person and he's full of gratitude, loving getting older and all the wisdom and security that comes with it and personally and selfishly, he just wants more of the same and for the trajectory of goodness to continue.
We ended up with a little "Namaste", a Robbie hug and off we went feeling inspired and hoping there may very well be a "Better Man 2" and a bit more Monkey coming up and a year filled with some much deserved accolades for this Brit boy done good.

"Better Man" is at cinemas across the GCC from 2nd January. You don't even need to know who Robbie Williams is to be mesmerised by "Better Man", the story and the music. It's 92% on Rotten Tomatoes for a reason. Go watch it. Twice even (like we did, in one day) - you won't regret it.

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