Wham!

2023
7
1h 32m

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

9.9K

YOUR RATING

George Michael, Andrew Ridgeley, and Wham! in Wham! (2023)

In 1982, the best of friends and still teenagers George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as Wham. set out to conquer the world. By June of 1986 they played their very last gig at Wembley Stadium having done exactly that. Now for the very first time, told in their own words, the amazing story of how in four years they dominated the charts around the world with timeless and classic pop songs. Hit after hit "Club Tropicana," "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go," "Freedom," "I'm Your Man" and of course "Last Christmas". Their time in the spotlight was white-hot, becoming the very first western pop act to play in China. It was a time that both encapsulated and epitomized not just their youth, but also those of the many millions of fans that adored them.

Play trailer2:22

1 Video

7 Photos

Music Documentary Biography Documentary Music

Through archival interviews and footage, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley relive the arc of their Wham career, from '70s best buds to '80s pop icons.Through archival interviews and footage, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley relive the arc of their Wham career, from '70s best buds to '80s pop icons.Through archival interviews and footage, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley relive the arc of their Wham career, from '70s best buds to '80s pop icons.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

9.9K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 1 win & 5 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 2:22

Official Trailer

Photos6

Top cast29

Edit

Wham!

Wham!
(archive footage)

George Michael

Self
(archive footage)

Andrew Ridgeley

Self

Bananarama

Self
(archive footage)

Bono

Self
(archive footage)

David Bowie

Self
(archive footage)

Boy George

Self
(archive footage)

Phil Collins

Self
(archive footage)

Mark Dean

Self - Innervision Records
(archive footage)

Helen DeMacque

Self
(archive footage)

Aretha Franklin

Self
(archive footage)

Elton John

Self
(archive footage)

Shirlie Kemp

Self
(archive footage)

Paul McCartney

Self
(archive footage)

Freddie Mercury

Self
(archive footage)

Simon Napier-Bell

Self
(archive footage)

Kyriacos Panayiotou

Self
(archive footage)

Sting

Self
(archive footage)

Director
- Chris Smith
Writer
- Clare Keogh
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews52

7.59.8K

Featured reviews

10iamshotty

Beautiful tribute to such a wonderful band

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.

7EUyeshima

A Genuine Friendship Couldn't Overshadow George Michael's Dominant Shadow

There isn't anything particularly revelatory about this 2023 documentary about the definitive '80's pop duo, but it's a mostly effective retelling of their successful albeit brief track record on the top of the charts. What appears reassuring was the genuine friendship depicted between George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. And how George's mercurial talent as a songwriter and performer quickly broke the pair apart professionally. If there were ugly moments between them, you won't find evidence of them here. Director Chris Smith took a more vanilla approach and used audio-only interviews with George and Andrew to narrate most of the story. Since George died tragically in 2016, Smith apparently didn't want to lean too much on a present-day Ridgeley to have the final word on their story. The still-catchy music speaks for itself.

8Xstal

Boys Will Be Boys...

There's a decade that began with lots of style, if you were there I'd guarantee you had a smile, as New Romantics left a mark, Punk and Disco had a spark, but it was Wham that got you dancing in the aisle. Two bad boys who generated so much fun, they were the epitome of everyone's young gun, a ray of sunshine, panorama, cocktails abound at Tropicana, as they opened doors to everyone's freedom.

A more than enjoyable reflection of a time two young lads came together to create some pop perfection, to wake up a generation and give those tuned in, everything they wanted, getting closer to a heaven, than they'd ever been before.

8TeddyKeaton

Joyful memories of a snapshot in time

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.

9jesse-846-720503

Brought a tear to my eye

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.

Trivia
In a 2023 interview with Smooth Radio, Chris Smith spoke about the unexpected way archive material was found and how it shaped the film: "The biggest surprise during the process was realizing that Andrew Ridgeley's mother had these scrapbooks. Those ended up, I think there were 50 in total and were this incredible document that sort of charted the rise and the ultimate conclusion of Wham!. To have those as a guide that we were able to come back to time and time and time again as a narrative device was such an incredible break. And then in terms of the actual archive, the process, it wasn't like we collected everything and then we cut the movie. It was ongoing throughout the entire process. And we had heard that there was this fabled footage that existed from the Club Fantastic tour. And I don't think we found that until like a couple of weeks before we finished. It was something that somebody knew someone who knew someone who had a copy of VHS tape on their shelf. It's much more happenstance than I think people would assume. I think that people would assume that this all exists in one centralized location in George Michael's estate. Andrew had a lot of it, but there were a lot of things that were just sort of floating out there that we were fortunately able to find and pull in."

Quotes
George Michael: I always get really shy when there's loads and loads of other pop stars about. I just tend to clam up a bit.

Connections
Featured in 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards (2024)

Soundtracks
A Ray of Sunshine
Published by Wham Music Ltd, All rights administered by WC Music Group
Performed by Wham!
Licensed courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd