Hearing them speak fondly of their youth, their early days as struggling artists, and the thrills and perils of dizzying success provides a feeling of immediacy as if we’re eavesdropping on a conversation between two old pals who haven’t caught up with each other in a while. Michael died on Christmas Day 2016 at age 53 Ridgeley has mostly lived a quiet life outside the spotlight for the last several years (although he did have a cameo in the 2019 romantic comedy “ Last Christmas”).

Ridgeley’s mum maintained meticulous scrapbooks documenting Wham!’s meteoric rise, which provide much of the substance here, along with never-before-seen footage and unheard audio from the personal archives of both men.

Michael and Andrew Ridgeley were beautiful, and their music was effervescent even the early songs with a social conscience were made for the dance floor.īeneath their tanned, heartthrob exteriors, though, the two had a deep, brotherly connection from childhood and an unexpectedly evolving power dynamic. It’s hard to believe the duo was only around from 1982-86, with the two coming to stunning global prominence at age 20 with such perky hits as “Young Guns” and “Club Tropicana.” The shorts were short, the hair was high, and the energy was knowingly, playfully hedonistic. On the most superficial level, it’s just a joy to relive this time of pop culture excess and sing along with these insanely catchy tunes. But the film from documentarian Chris Smith (“ Fyre,” “Operation Varsity Blues”) is a total blast, regardless of your level of fandom.

Tiktok song roger roger