Film Review: "Wham! (2023).

From the director of 100 Foot Wave comes Wham! This documentary film directed by Chris Smith. With unprecedented access to both George and Andrew’s personal archive including never-before-seen footage, and previously unheard interviews, WHAM! charts in their own words the four year journey from teenage school friends to global superstars. 

In 1981, English pop duo, Wham!, formed in Bushey. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more than thirty million certified records worldwide from 1982 to 1986. Influenced by funk and soul music and presenting themselves as disaffected youth, Wham!'s 1983 debut album Fantastic addressed the United Kingdom's unemployment problem and teen angst over adulthood. Their second studio album Make It Big in 1984 was a worldwide pop smash hit, charting at number one in both the UK and the United States. Associated with the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US, the singles from the album—Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Everything She Wants and Careless Whisper—all topped the US Billboard Hot 100. In 1985, Wham! made a highly publicised ten-day visit to China, the first by a Western pop group. The event was seen as a major watershed moment in increasing friendly bilateral relations between China and the West. In 1986, Wham! broke up. Michael was keen to create music targeted at a more sophisticated adult market rather than the duo's primarily teenage audience. Before going their separate ways, a farewell single The Edge of Heaven", and a greatest-hits album titled The Final would be forthcoming, along with a farewell concert entitled The Final.

The initial concept for a documentary film was when Ridgeley contacted co-producer Simon Halfon about the idea, around the same time as Ridgeley’s 2019 memoir Wham! George & Me. Halfon then pitched the project to Netflix and John Battsek. In June 2022, it was announced that a documentary film about the band was in production and had the official support of Ridgeley, with Smith hired to direct. The official social media of Ridgeley and Michael announced and asked the public for any footage they may have. In the early stages of the project, Smith said that he approached it with the possibility of using on-screen interviews, however, during the editing process, Smith had decided to use the archival audio of Michael with a new audio commentary from Ridgeley. A number of days were spent in Ridgeley's studio during the recording. According to Smith, one of the biggest surprises were the scrapbooks (around fifty), that Ridgeley's mother put together documenting the entire four years. Among the tapes of archival footage of varying quality discovered and located by the team was a VHS tape of their 1983 Hammersmith Odeon concert from the Club Fantastic Tour owned by Wham! bass player Dave West. This was found not long before the film's completion.

What this film does have is lots of passion and affection for its subject. Wham! and George Michael is likely to start that fire for a new generation of fans thanks to Chris Smith.

Simon says Wham! receives:

Also, see my review for 100 Foot Wave.