Really liked this, I knew next to nothing about them except for the hits on the radio. Never knew Wexler was involved with Careless Whisper. The scrapbooks kept by Andrew's mum were very cool, and some of teh early footage is interesting. If you're looking for dirt on George and his later years, this ain't the place. It stops with their farewell gig, and all you really get is George discussing the things that would eventually tear him up. Time went by quickly--an enjoyable hour and a half. Wham! (2023) - IMDb
Watched this yesterday. I guess what surprised (and pleased) me the most was seeing just how important Andrew actually was in their development and eventual success. Was never a fan, but enjoyed it very much.
Andrew was very much in that Sonny Bono vein, where he met someone and said, "My God, you're a goddamn star and you don't even know it!" and nurtured that absolutely tentative person to success only that have that person turn around one day and say, "I don't need you anymore."
Yea, it's funny that in the doc Andrew says that George became more like Andrew personally--more outgoing, fun, talkative. But after a few years, Andrew realized that GM was becoming a super energetic creative musician.
George didn't need Andrew after a certain point, but he did not break from him with malice. They both knew that Wham! was a youth-centric project that had a very limited window of time and wanted to go about things at the moment. I give them all the credit in the world for ending it at the time they did (5 years) and for not caving to a reunion show in their 40s-50s.
Watched half yesterday. Don't know if I'll finish it. Maybe the really big years will be way more interesting to me than the story line up to Club Tropicana. The tone of the doc mirrors Wham's music quite well. Maybe that's why I'm not feeling it.
I've read rave reviews, I'll probably sign up to Netflix for a month to view it. I figure if I enjoy it as much as I think I will, it's a good price.
Enjoyable, if not definitive. It moved well, never looked at my watch. I now have a respect for Andrew that I didn't have before. It seems obvious that we may not have ever heard from GM at all had Andrew not pushed him and supported him. George sounded SO tentative on the vocal for Wexler's production of Careless Whisper. I think he scared the crap out of GM instead of inspiring him. Dan
I really liked it though not a wham fan. the main thing was to see how it was important to George to be recognized as a song writer. So got a kick into the famous album « Make it Big » and there’s a very Motownesque quality. The story about Careless Whispers is priceless. The documentary made me view George Michael more like a musical figure à la Brian Wilson : writes, produces and performs. But I will stay faithful to Brian Wilson’s greatness. I tried to listen Michael’s solo work many times and it looks spotty (IMHO). Make it big is quite a thing for sure.
Finally got around to watching this and although it's a very well done documentary, what really struck me was how I pretty much as a fan experienced everything they covered.
