An 80’s pop group are going to make history by being the first Western ensemble to play in Communist China. Who would this group be? A critically respected group like The Smiths or The Cure who would surely take the opportunity to highlight the differences between the two worlds and use the expedition as fuel for future songwriting? Nope. Instead, it’s Wham!, the pop group who always reminded me of Butlin’s holiday entertainment but given a huge budget.

I love pop/rock documentaries. Even the projects that are micromanaged and presided over by the most scrupulous management teams can still reveal aspects of artists that were previously unknown or that they didn’t want disclosed. And there’s loads to feast on here.

There’s the sequence in which George Michael is writing a speech regarding playing in China in which he jokingly says that the real reason they’re playing there is for publicity. I instantly thought of Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest. At least George is being honest, if not a bit too honest. Their folly soon hits home as they play their first gig with the local police acting as security. When a young man dares to get up and stand on his seat, he’s promptly arrested. As all fans of Wham! should be. The other audience members’ reactions are priceless as they witness the full horror of Wham!’s live show. Their expressions range from being completely blank to utter horror. As you’d expect.

There’s also their manager Simon Napier-Bell who says that they were doing the gigs as they were the biggest band at that moment in time in the UK. Watching this, I had a massive 80’s flashback. I had gotten into pop music from a very young age and I had started to fanatically follow Duran Duran when they were at the peak of their powers. Hearing Napier-Bell try to rewrite history made me roll my eyes and think to myself, ‘Duran Duran just called! They’d like a word…’

There’s also the hilarious moment when teens hurry into an electrical store with a cassette of Wham!’s music as they are desperate to hear what this band of spoilt Westerners with poodle hair actually sound like. Their first exposure to Western popular culture is, wait for it, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. As if life in Communist China wasn’t bad enough without inflicting that on them.

Another sequence shows a meet and greet which turns sour as George ‘The Artist’ flounces off leaving poor Andrew Ridgeley to hold court. He asks where ‘Knobhead’ (aka Mr Michael) has gone to. In fact, in the course of the documentary, it’s Ridgeley who comes across as completely likeable and, contrary to popular belief, talented. We see him playing live during the soundchecks for the shows and he plays guitar really well. The documentary tries to depict Georgy Porgy as a very private and somewhat conflicted person who really can’t handle that level of exposure (except when he’s exposing himself in a Los Angeles restroom, that is).

With all of this going on, Lindsay Anderson (yes, the guy who directed If….) is thrown into the mix to document the trip but this is curtailed as he twists his foot coming down from the Great Wall and so can’t realistically fulfil his directorial duties. You dodged a bullet there, Lindsay. Later on in the film, it’s also stated that Mr Anderson’s and the band’s management’s visions for the project ‘didn’t align’. I wonder what Anderson’s film would have looked like.

This all sounds like I hate Wham! Their music is smooth, over-produced pop pap. But, as they also remind me of how fantastic (pun not intended) it was to grow up in the 80’s, there’s also an element of fondness that the band hold for me. They are cheese, but they also hold a lot of happy memories for me regarding that particular era. This isn’t some profound cultural statement regarding the intersection of East meeting West through the medium of music. This is a film about a bubblegum pop group who, in the pursuit of column inches and worldwide exposure, ventured into the unknown and dragged along Pepsi and Shirley in puffball skirts for good measure.

Apparently a documentary regarding George’s Faith Tour is also to be released. I look forward to this with the grim fascination I brought to this film.

3 out of 5 stars