I came out of the womb with jazz hands,” pop star Robbie Williams recounts in “Better Man,” his new biopic. Williams became the hugest of stars in his native Britain, making 14 No. 1 singles and performing to screaming crowds (though he never gained traction in the United States.

For the past two hours, they’d watched the real-life story of Robbie Williams — a British pop singer who’s sold over 75 million records — acted out by a CGI monkey. Perhaps my fellow moviegoers needed further confirmation that the star of Better Man was,

Williams, who is a massive star in Europe, hopes the movie will be a sort of introduction for American audiences.

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.