Worried About the Boy

The rise of 1980s pop star Boy George (also the subject of a flop Broadway musical backed by Rosie O'Donnell) is chronicled in this mostly sad BBC dramatization. Worried About the Boy underscores the fact that while Boy George and his up-tempo tunes with the band Culture Club presented a non-threatening, gender-bending image to the masses, offstage things weren't so MTV-terrific. The narrative shuttles back and forth between two timelines: one with the unknown George O'Dowd (Douglas Booth)—son in a loving but puzzled working-class Irish household—exploring outlandish fashion and sexuality on the glam-ish fringe of the 1970s punk-rock scene; the other following his later downward-spiraling pop star creation Boy George as he's dogged by the press and rumors of drug addiction. Throughout, George aches for true love, but is disappointed by both gay males and self-proclaimed straight men who are nonetheless attracted by his androgyny. Effectively evoking the 80s (but not fixated on big-budget musical re-enactments, except for a climactic Top of the Pops performance), the film had the blessing and advice of the real O'Dowd on the condition that he was not portrayed as "camp," which he assuredly is not. Recommended. (C. Cassady)