QUESTIONS NOBODY IS ASKING: Who is Robbie Williams and why is he a chimpanzee in Better Man?

In the U.K., Robbie Williams is a major megastar — and has been for decades. But not so much in the U.S. For whatever reason, Williams’ charming, edgy pop tunes and self-deprecating sense of humor never have quite clicked with Americans.

That might change with the new biopic about Williams, “Better Man,” which first opened in theaters on Dec. 25 but is about to go wide on Jan. 17.

Following the beats of a classic biopic, “Better Man” has a major twist: Williams — who voices and sings the character — is portrayed as a computer-generated chimpanzee.

Let’s find out why.

Or perhaps, let’s not. As Variety reports:

Expanding to 1,291 venues this weekend, the wacky Robbie Williams biopic “Better Man” isn’t exactly going bananas with a puny $580,000 opening day. Paramount, working with some co-financiers, acquired the feature for North America distribution (and Japan and France) for $25 million.

Helmed by “Greatest Showman” director Michael Gracey, “Better Man” drew strong reviews playing fall festivals, with critics largely taken by the premise of having Williams represented by a CGI chimpanzee because, as he puts it in the trailer, he always felt “less evolved than other people.” But the film fizzled in its limited release in late December and, after hoping to plant a flag in awards season, has faded mightily among Oscar prognosticators. Williams is a U.K. icon, but has mostly remained obscure stateside, and a domestic marketing campaign that has emphasized the primate premise over the central pop star didn’t take.

Over the decades, many acts have become household name superstars in England, but fail to make much of a dent in the American market. (QED: Cliff Richard, Roxy Music, and Kate Bush until Stranger Things). As the Critical Drinker tweets, “A biopic about a singer who was notorious for failing to crack America and hasn’t even been relevant in over a decade. Who exactly thought this was a good idea?”

Having seen the trailer for Better Man several times this past fall and during the holiday season, and knowing nothing about Williams, it didn’t exactly inspire me to want to see what seemed like Planet of the Apes: The Boy Band Era.