Film Review: Netflix' Wham! documentary is poignant and exhilarating

Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael in Netflix' Wham! documentary.

• Wham!
• ★★★★☆
• Netflix

Chris Smith’s documentary Wham! (12A) opens in London in 1975, when the self-confessed ‘two bloody idiots’ of George Michael and Andrew Ridgely first met in school. 

Best friends despite their very different personalities — George, or ‘Yog’, is an introvert, Andrew a show-off — the music-obsessed pair kicked off their career aged 16 with a ska band, before becoming ‘social warriors’ with their blend of disco and socially-conscious rap.

All of which, of course, is merely a prelude to the deliriously escapist years — all too brief — when Wham! were the preeminent purveyors of toe-tapping pop, knocking out the likes of ‘Freedom’, ‘Club Tropicana’ and ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’, in addition to ‘Last Christmas’ and — surely their meisterwerk — ‘Careless Whisper’. 

That this last song became something of a bone of contention in terms of authorship serves as something of a sub-theme to the film: while the music deservedly takes centre-stage, the film also charts the course of a deep and enduring friendship as the pair experience a stratospheric rise to fame. 

Smart enough to realise that each must play to his strengths as George’s writing ability outstripped that of Andrew, each focused on a different aspect of the duo’s appeal, with both suggesting nothing would have been possible without their mutual input.

Chris Smith digs out grainy footage and old photographs from the early years, and combines that with more familiar film of Top of the Pops performances and live gigs, with Andrew and George providing a running commentary on events via audio interviews. 

The result is an exhilarating and poignant account of one of the great British pop bands.