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.

The Robbie Williams movie Better Man opens wide in theaters in the U.S. this weekend, which means that Americans can finally learn who the heck Robbie Williams is. Directed by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman),

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 produced. “I’m unevolved," he confesses. No kidding — throughout the entire film, Williams is portrayed as an ape.

The film is a visual spectacle and there's heart at the core of the story, making for a balanced dive into Robbie Williams' rise to pop stardom.