But Chris Smith’s (“Fyre,” “Operation Varsity Blues”) documentary is a total blast, regardless of your level of worship. On the most superficial level, it’s just a joy to relive this time of pop culture excess and sing along to these crazy catchy tunes. It’s hard to believe the pair were around from 1982-86, with both gaining global fame in their 20s with hits such as ‘Young Guns’ and ‘Club Tropicana’. The shorts were short, the hair was high, and the energy was self-consciously, playfully hedonistic. Michael and Andrew Ridgeley were beautiful and their music was full of fire; even early socially conscious songs were made for the dance floor.
However, beneath their tanned and heartbroken exteriors, the two shared a deep brotherly bond from childhood and an unexpectedly evolving power dynamic. Ridgeley’s mother kept meticulous books documenting Wham!’s meteoric rise, which provide much of the substance here, along with never-before-seen footage and unheard audio from both men’s personal archives. Michael died on Christmas Day 2016 aged 53; Ridgeley has largely lived a quiet life out of the spotlight for the past few years (though he did have a role in the 2019 romantic comedy Last Christmas). Hearing them talk wistfully about their youth, their early days as struggling artists, and the thrills and perils of smash success gives us the immediate feeling of eavesdropping on a conversation between two old friends who aren’t caught up with each other. in one time. If there’s any shortcoming here, it’s that the movie just stops when Wham! Ends; a title card briefly reminds us of Michael’s later superstardom, but Smith offers nothing of the sort for Ridgeley’s post-Wham! career.
The friendship lasted, and that’s a lot of what makes “Wham!” stand out from other music documentaries: the warmth, the love, and the absence of the kinds of creative struggles and selfishness that so often turn these tales into clichés. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley met at school when they were 11 and 12 years old respectively. Michael (who later went by his given name, Georgios Panayiotou) was the new kid in the class who had just been assigned a seat next to Ridgeley. A shared love of music quickly became their bond; Ridgeley refers to Michael by his given nickname, Yog, throughout the film, which adds an element of sweetness. What’s interesting is that Ridgeley was dominant in the beginning – he was more confident and stylish, and he had the vision for what Wham! in the end it would be done. Michael, while obviously talented at a young age, was a bit chubby and awkward. And despite his donkey bravado in the band’s videos and concert performances, he had a hard time thinking of himself as a sex symbol.