Karma Caméléon

Boy George can certainly be described as an 80's icon. I distinctly remember as a youngster first seeing his band Culture Club perform 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me' on some kids TV show some time in the early 80's and then seeing him interviewed immediately afterwards and being utterly amazed he was not a she. I seem to recall fellow school-mates being somewhat flabbergasted about this the following day too. These were less enlightened times as far as homosexuality was concerned, so I guess Boy George was even more of a cultural happening taking that into account. Despite his image, part of the reason Culture Club became so massively popular was that George himself was never promoted as threatening sexually, while the band's music was very contemporary new wave pop with little edge. But like most things that connect so fully with mainstream culture, the fame and success only lasted a fairly short while.

This TV biopic is unusual in that it hardly focuses on the Culture Club years at all. Instead, it covers George's pre-fame and post-peak tabloid celebrity years. In doing this, it sort of misses out the most dramatic section of the story and looks at what led George there and how it affected him negatively afterwards. This approach means that you have to accept what the film is not, although it definitely makes the story more small-scale and lower key. The early years are typified by the fashion scene that revolved around the Blitz Club which was populated by the New Romantics; while the later scenes happen in the midst of George being hounded by the press over his reported heroin addiction. The film flashes forward and back to these two periods to tell the story. And in some respects it's quite a limited story in all honesty. The early years were typified, after all, by George not really doing a lot and gaining minor celebrity for merely wearing the right clothes. One of the more notable events happens when he briefly hooks up with Malcolm McLaren – very well played by Mark Gatiss – and is photographed with his then pop pets Bow Wow Wow but little came of this, so it's just a colourful detail.

Mainly the film works as a time capsule movie, where we are transported back to the early 80's. Several characters from the New Romantic scene appear, such as Steve Strange, Marilyn and Kirk Brandon; the latter of which had a sexual affair with the singer. The costuming and soundtrack have been chosen well and despite the low budget, it's convincingly of its time. The main acting duties are covered by newcomer Douglas Booth, who is decidedly more androgynous than the real Boy George. He puts in a pretty good performance, especially when you consider he was only 17 years old at the time. On the whole, this is a film that should appeal to those who like biopics about popular music figures. It might not be the most dramatic story but it is well told for what it is.

The costumes and setting of this drama looked amazing and I could not fault the lead performances, but it was so SLOW. I lasted one hour and the action could have been taken care of in half the time. And sex and drugs and rock and roll are never as interesting to watch as they are to participate in. Boy George's pre-fame antics did not make for interesting viewing.

I was never a fan of Boy George but I always thought that he seemed a lovely, intelligent person and thankfully that view has not changed as a result of this drama, but not enough happened to keep my attention. And I don't remember seeing Mark Gatiss at all, unless he was in some effective 'League of Gentlemen' disguise. Did he appear in the first hour that I watched?

To the mainstream, Boy George appeared from left-field, a chart-topping male pop-star who dressed like a woman. Yet George was not just a freak show; he emerged from the androgyny of the New Romantic club scene, even if few had attempted such an extreme look before; his band made records of genuine merit; and of course, in a period where homosexuality was still not as widely accepted as it is now, it was not just for its aesthetic qualities that his dress sense attracted attention. Julian Jarold's film, 'Worried About the Boy', gives a good feeling of what it was like for George prior to fame, finding his way through a world in which he always possessed a measure of star quality; although I don't recall George ever looking quite as naturally feminine as actor Douglas Booth. What the film lacks is a certain narrative purpose: George got dressed up, had relationships, formed bands and eventually made it onto 'Top of the Pops'; 'Worried About the Boy' explains how, but the problem with many real-life dramatisations is that they essentially amount to "stuff happens" and I felt something of the same here. There are hints of a bigger story in the relationship of George and Kirk Brandon; but you need to know what happened later to understand these. And the film is also guilty of some obviousness; when George visits Malcolm McLaren, the Sex Pistols appear on the soundtrack, even though the period is wrong. In spite of this, I still enjoyed the film, an interesting view of an unlikely road to fame.

It's a shame there is no Theatre of Hate songs in this 80's strory which is the band that Kirk Brandon was the lead singer. This is an interesting story from Boy George's Autobiography one which Kirk Brandon denied & sued Boy George in Court & lost. I found it entertaining enough & there are lots of 80's tunes in here but no Kirk Brandon songs maybe due to copyright but it would have added some context to the story. Apart from that it was an otherwise piece of 80's nostalga with a story that many may not have previously known about.

I thought that this was well acted & both actors who played the two main characters were very good & convincing playing Boy George & Kirk Brandon (who was Rob Stark in Game of Thrones). Do you really want to hurt me is used in the film & suits it perfectly as you will find out if you warch this gem. There are many other well known 80's musicians and icons who are scattered throughout the film so see how many you can spot.

*Possible Spoilers* I watched this and it was AMAZING. Full of everything a television programme could need; angst, comedy, romance, honest truths...the list goes on! The acting is incredibly good, and always believable. Though it was all wonderful, my personal favourite parts were the cute and subtle bits of romance. In parts, it made me 'aww' audibly! Douglas Booth, who played George, looks an incredibly amount like him. A perfectly chosen actor, there in my opinion. And, as an added bonus, he's absolutely gorgeous! The only low part for me, was that the lip-syncing of the songs was rather bad. The mouths move to the right words, but it doesn't look like he's actually singing it. But this is merely a small thing, and hardly really detracts from how wonderful the whole thing was. I would highly recommend watching/buying this. A brilliant piece of drama! Douglas Booth is definitely a star in the making! Look out for him in the future!