What’s this?
A new Netflix documentary about the ginormously successful British pop due. In 1982, teenage best friends George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley set out to conquer the world. In June 1986 they played their very last gig at Wembley Stadium having done exactly that.
Who directed it?
Chris Smith, the director of Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened.
Is there a trailer?
What are the critics saying?
Nice things, mostly, although only a few opined so far. The current Rotten Tomatoes rating is 83%, and here’s what Wendy Ide wrote about it in The Observer:
the film, which creates a dialogue between recent interviews with Ridgeley and older archive recordings of Michael, pays tribute to the close bond between the two Bushey Meads school friends who found themselves living the dream. But it also explores the cost to the then closeted Michael of the teen heart-throb persona he was forced to wear along with his canary-yellow Fila tennis shorts.
Wham! review – the truth behind the mahogany tans and catchy songs
Why did WHAM! split up?
There are different versions, that may – or may not – be covered in the documentary, but George Michael was quoted as saying he wanted to ‘write to more honest emotions in his records, creating songs that people could personally relate to’.
Don’t say
It must have been weird to be named after Michael Cera’s character in Arrested Development.
Do say
I don’t usually fall asleep watching docos but, if I do, wake me up before you go-go.
Where and when can I watch it?
WHAM! premieres on Netflix on 5 July 2023.
