Spice World (1998)
Director: Bob Spiers Cast: Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, Victoria Adams, Richard E. Grant, Alan Cumming, George Wendt, Roger Moore Rated PG: teen-oriented themes
by Nathaniel R. Atcheson (nate@pyramid.net)
I have had almost no exposure to the Spice Girls. Going into this film, I was convinced that I wouldn't know a single song of theirs (I found out later that I actually had heard one before seeing the film). They just seemed like five ditsy British girls that dance around and make lots of money. I was anxious to see Spice World because I knew my favorite actor has a cameo in it. Aside from this, though, I expected to deplore this film.
And now that it's over, I still want to deplore it. But I can't. I'm i...in...fected bbbby the SPICE GIRLS! No, but seriously, Spice World is a terrible film that, regrettably, is also entertaining. Sure, it's really goofy, and very stupid, and the film ultimately is awful, but it's harmless and funny. And Bob Hoskins is in it for ten seconds. In theory, that's all I need.
Naturally, the story is nothing to write home about. It centers around the Girls (Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, Victoria Adams) and their manager (Richard E. Grant) who are on their big bus heading towards their first live show. Along the way, there are subplots: a crew tries to make a documentary about the Girls (led by Alan Cumming); a couple of evil men try to smear them by having a guy follow them and take pictures at inopportune times; and some Hollywood producers try to get in on the fun with high-minded concepts for films that the Girls can star in.
Spice World, first and foremost, is a disorganized mess of a film. It jumps around from subplot to subplot and never really becomes engaging as a story. Scenes are rapidly thrown at the audience (it jumps from the Girls to the various subplots frequently) with little to no warning, so concentration in this case is nearly impossible. You'll find yourself blindsided by big, colorful images at high speeds.
What is probably the worst thing about it is that, leaving the theater, I knew nothing new about the Spice Girls. Everything in this film is fabricated and phony. Take, for instance, the scene where they remember a time before they were famous, singing in the local diner. I read somewhere that there were auditions to be in the Spice Girls, so this scene was obviously made up for the film. Knowing that the Spice Girls likely hate each other in real life didn't help as I watched; every attempt at "friendship" in the film seems completely forced.
The most inherently silly thing about the Spice Girls are the so-called "identities" that they all have. Having seen the film, I would still have to go searching for their five identities. The only ones that stuck out were the girlish antics of Baby and the stuck-up, materialistic Posh. I can see the rest of their faces, but what they are, and what they do in this film, is still a mystery.
Aside from the film as a whole being really bad, it goes for the unexpected and turns out really funny. Some of the sequences here are clever and hilarious, like a Speed rip-off in which the Girls are trapped on the bus with a bomb. Every time Richard E. Grant opened his mouth, I laughed. I also liked the nightmare sequence in which they make fun of themselves (a judge dooms their next album to debut at number 176 on the Billboard 200, only to drop off the next week). And the film is so frantic and exasperating that boredom is impossible. Spice World may be a terrible movie, but it's so terrible that I just couldn't help but enjoy myself.
>From 0-10: 6 Grade: C+
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Nathaniel R. Atcheson
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