Wham!

Thank you to the creators of this documentary and Netflix. In a nutshell, it was so well put together, with George and Andrew telling their story in its raw form - no pretence, no fluff, just the facts. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and then laugh again. It made this fifty-five year old woman re-live her youth. I cried at Careless whisper and Last Christmas, I laughed and danced around the lounge room to Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, trying to re-do the moves of a teenager, with creaking knees and hip joints, until it hurt. It was so worth it. I LOVED IT. For those of you who there back in the 80s and fell in love with the boys from Wham as I did, you will not be disappointed.

There are hardly any talking heads in this documentary. Even the old Andrew Ridgeley can only be heard, but is never seen. The story is basically told with archive footage. And what a great story this is, a bit like the Mozart fantasy in Amadeus (1984), but this time in real.

Two teenagers, who behave like stupid teenagers and are considered to be idiots by many experts from the music press, turn out a string of catchy songs that are still - 40 years later - well known and liked. They authentically embodied the youthful energy, genius and lust for life that's at the heart of pop music. When they ended the Wham!-project in 1986 with their final concert, nearly exactly 4 years after the release of their first - and unsuccessful - single in June 1982, the best reason given was that they considered themselves no longer to be adolescents. A rare realization.

Andrew Ridgeley was the moving spirit of Wham!, the energy. George Michael - nicknamed "Yog" by Andrew - was the genius. He became more and more obsessed with writing and producing songs, obsessed with the number 1 spot in the charts. He created most of the music, but turned a bit into a megalomaniac. During his solo career he wrote immortal songs like ... I don't know, actually. Aside from from the first post-Wham! Album, Faith (1987), he only released four more, from 1990 to 2004, with fine, but unremarkable music.

The Wham!-Story is unique, fabulous, magical. Does this documentary reveal the whole truth about this seemingly impossible success? Probably not. But it does a good enough job offering plausible explanations. It should satisfy most of its viewers.

After a long day at work I needed something to watch and this came up since I had added it to my list.

It was nice to listen to George and Andrew go through the beginning of their friendship to the inspiration and growth of their music careers. You could see the ache Yog had for becoming that artist he always wished to be. These two young men had such an incredible experience and near the end when you could feel George becoming the solo star he was meant to be, it became a bit heartbreaking but you could see that was necessary. George was a powerhouse and yet he began a quiet, gentle soul. Made me teary at the end but truly enjoyed it.

I had a smile on my face as I watched most of this film, remembering how lovely George and Andy were together and the infectious smiles on the both of them. Their music is still as catchy as ever, and it was nice to see a lot of early concert footage of the group that I'd never seen before. Thank you Mr. Ridgeley for putting this together. My only complaint was that it was about 15-20 minutes longer than it needed to be, and it could've had more clips of Andy and George in the studio together. Definitely a must-see if you're a fan of 80s pop music, and if you know little to nothing about the underpinnings of George's meteoric rise to solo career fame.

I've never reviewed a documentary before. But this one really moved me.

I had no idea of the backstory of George and Andrew's friendship. And admittedly, I had always thought of Wham as "George and that other guy". So it was great to see just how important Andrew was to them even becoming a group. The friendship portrayed here is truly amazing. What it must have been like to be in Andrew's shoes, seeing his best friend develop and grow into a huge worldwide phenomenon, while he gracefully stepped back.

Lots of music and concert clips and some cool behind the scenes information on how some of the songs came about. George Michael really was a phenomenal talent. Such a sad ending for him.