Wham!

Available on Netflix

Wham!, in a similar vein to many 1980s pop groups, are rarely given the artistic credit they deserve, despite their chart-topping credentials. This documentary, directed by Chris Smith of Jim & Andy and Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened acclaim, seeks to reassess that status quo via a feelgood career retrospective that is almost entirely constructed from archive footage and audio interviews with the band’s stars, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. 

Wham! does a particularly good job of giving justice to Ridgeley’s role within the band, which has understandably often been mistaken as being little more than Michael’s understudy. Instead, we learn that, when an impressionable young teen, Michael was guided by the altogether more confident Ridgeley, to the point where he defied his own father’s wishes and pursued a career of pop stardom.

Given Michael’s genre-defining output since, it’s fair to say that music owes a lot to Ridgeley, whose humble demeanour makes for an empathic interviewee. While Wham! doesn’t exactly break new ground for its genre, it is a highly engaging watch that provides an ample reminder of its subject’s considerable talents.