Robbie Williams may not be familiar to many in the United States, but in his native Britain, he became a huge pop star, performing to adoring crowds and making 14 No. 1 singles.

I’m not kidding. And neither are “Better Man” subject Robbie Williams nor the film’s director Michael Gracey. This rise, fall and very fast 12-step recovery saga of the English singing sensation few Americans know presents Williams as a CG chimpanzee.

Robbie Williams being portrayed as a CGI ape in Better Man could have been a simple gimmick, but it actually has thematic meaning within the story.

If it’s true that your age freezes the day you become famous, then the British pop star Robbie Williams is stuck at 16. So he says near the end of “Better Man," the biopic he