Review: Spice World (1998)
by Chris Webb copyright 1998
Cast: The Spice Girls, Alan Cummings, George Wendt, Richard E. Grant, Claire Rushbrook, Roger Moore. Directed by Bob Spiers
I am a Spice Girls fan, and am one of the few over eighteen who will admit that they indeed do have talent. Part of the Spice Girl backlash is that many feel they are simply pretty faces and became extremely popular extremely fast. I have no problem with that, yet they can sing, and their songs are enjoyable. They are entertainers, not a band, so in my mind, they do not have to play instruments to be legitimate.
Can they act though and do they deserve a movie? This could only be proven by watching "Spice World," which I did, and enjoyed considerably. Of course its silly and is not a filmmaking clinic, but it does what some of what are considered great films have failed to do: entertain.
To answer my first question, some Spice Girls are better actors than others, and the winner of most-talented Spice Girl goes to Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice). Her distinctive voice is highlighted in the song "Too Much," and is peppered throughout the rest. Yet, she can really act, as well, to the point where it felt as if she was being more than just a Spice Girl. Among the others, Melanie Brown (Scary Spice) and Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) act well, and Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) and Victoria Addams (Posh Spice) were given lesser roles in the scheme of things. You can really feel their bond and comfort with each other.
The plot basically takes us through the follies of the girls as they go from rehearsals to press conferences to one final big live show. Members of the press try to ruin them, and their managers are put to the test trying to keep things together. The tabloid run by Kevin McMaxford (Barry Humphries) is the weak link in this, as they try to show his evil through visual effects of thundering galestorms and streams of spittle as he talks. The managers, played adeptly by Richard E. Grant (Portrait of a Lady) to ridiculous extremes and Claire Rushbrook (Secrets and Lies) create some on-screen chemistry that Grant thwarts each time he talks to her. Roger Moore plays an omnipotent producer known as The Chief who carries on sight gags and mixes his cliches a la "Naked Gun."
Other appearances are made by George Wendt (Cheers) as a film producer and Alan Cummings (Circle of Friends, Emma) as a documentarian who both attempt to make films of the Spice Girls and their travails. What is churned out is a film about the making of a film about a film in which the Spice Girls are the main attraction. The Spice Girls sing their tunes to the delight of fans, stringing in what are essentially four or five music videos.
The Spice Girls show they are not all work when they help out a pregnant friend (Naoko Mori) who missed the Spice boat, but who supported them when they just got started. Cameos by Elton John, Elvis Costello, and Bob Geldolf are thrown in, but the movie is at its strongest when the girls themselves are on screen.
I was expecting it to be dumb, but there was even some adult humor in there that kept me going, and it never disappointed me. If you're a fan, you'll enjoy the movie. If you're not, then don't go, because we don't need to hear yet another person mocking them because that is the popular thing to do.
My grade: B+/A-
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