Spice World - Der Film

This movie is FUN. And the sad thing is that most people are too close-minded to see that. The general consensus seems to be: "It's the Spice Girls in a movie? It's going to be awful!" and either they never see the movie, or they allow their prejudices to judge the movie for them.

Firstly, let me say that I am not, and was never, a Spice Girls fan. I was way too old for their target market when they were popular, and whilst one or two of their songs had catchy tunes, some were downright annoying. They were a very cleverly manufactured girl band in a time when that market was wide-open. Giving each girl a distinctive character and style was a stroke of genius on the part of their 'creators', and while they didn't have particularly strong voices (except perhaps for Mel C), they didn't have particularly bad ones either. I've heard far worse. So I went into this movie purely out of curiosity, expecting it to be somewhere between awful and merely silly, but I ended up enjoying myself thoroughly. Also, my 65-year-old father loves this movie, and he saw it only having heard vaguely of the Spice Girls, but not knowing their music at all. Yes, Spiceworld is an exploitation movie; BUT it does an excellent job at it! What I loved most was the way it poked fun at itself all the way through. The character of the screenwriter pitching his idea to the girls' manager (brilliantly played by Richard E. Grant) saying "It's obvious to us that the Spicegirls are movie stars!", when it's obvious that they're not, and everyone knows it - there's even a scene at the beginning where he says, "Yes, but can they ACT?" and his boss responds with, 'Who cares?", or similar. I loved that. And while the girls CAN'T really act (some are worse than others; I've read that Victoria was the only one who had taken acting lessons before, but I can't say it showed since I thought she was the weakest link), it's obvious that they're having fun with the script, and they don't do too badly at all.

The script was another great surprise to me; it's full of good lines and funny characters that poke fun at themselves and their stereotypes. An example of this is the great Roger Moore playing the "Chief", who is presumably the Big Boss of the Spice Girls. We only ever see him on the phone with Clifford the manager (Richard E. Grant), and every time we do he is stroking, in pure Bond Villain (or Dr Evil) fashion, a small white animal on his lap. But every time you see him he has a different animal; first it's a cat, then a rabbit, a tiny white pig etc. I thought that was such a great way of poking fun at the stereotype of the villain always having a white pet. And then the character himself has these fantastically enigmatic, senseless, but hysterical lines, like: "When the rabbit of chaos is pursued by the ferret of disorder through the fields of anarchy, it is time to hang your pants on the hook of darkness. Whether they're clean or not." and: "The headless chicken can only know where he's been. He can't see where he's going. Do not be that chicken." I love that off-the-wall humour, and this movie is full of it. Of course, some people just don't GET that kind of humour, which is fine by me as long as it doesn't make them slam the film because of it.

Other moments I love, which elevate this film from could-have-been-dodgy to funny, are the casting of Meatloaf as the Spice Girls bus driver, and then having him say lines like: {on fixing the clogged toilets} "Hey, I love these girls. I'll do anything for them...but I won't do that!" - which is, of course, a play on Meatloaf's hit song "Anything for Love". Also the parody of the stereotypical characters of the girls, which of course were made up for them anyway, like Victoria not knowing what to wear, and Mel C saying "It must be really hard for you, Victoria, trying to decide whether to wear the little Gucci dress, or the little Gucci dress, or the little Gucci dress", and Victoria responding "Exactly!", or when Victoria falls into the Thames and continues to scream for help once she's been rescued, and yelling "This dress is dry-clean only!", or Geri saying "Calm down, haven't you ever heard of the word 'compromisation'?" There are scores of these great moments but they really work better in the film than if I wrote them down here. All I'm saying is that this movie is not ever in a million years as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Yes, it's not the greatest, but then most films aren't. It's so much funnier than you'd think, and yes it has its cheesy moments, but sometimes it's SUPPOSED to be cheesy! That's where it's funny. I really don't understand why this film, whose only aim was to be FUN, and in this it succeeded more than admirably in my opinion, is in IMDb's Worst.

I've liked the Spice Girls for years, but I'm not sure why. Ordinarily, I don't care for their brand of dance-pop fluff, but somehow they make it sound good. Regardless of what anyone says, they are talented singers and dancers, and they show that numerous times. They're also pretty and most of them wear outfits that show a lot. And while they're not accomplished actresses, they are simply adorable.

I don't think anyone intended this movie to be taken seriously. It's just good clean (well, slightly naughty) fun. Roger Moore comes the closest to giving a good performance, in a role that appears to be spoofing Bond villains. Just in case we don't get the joke, he pets a long-haired cat.

One of the funniest scenes has the girls complaining about people thinking they fit the stereotypical image people have of them. Of course, Emma says this while on a swing in a three-year-old's fantasy world.

The girls actually show they have intelligence. Or do they? I thought Melanie B was the one with brains. She's no better off than the others!

Another humorous incident: Victoria can't make up her mind whether to wear the short black Gucci dress or the short black Gucci dress. Emma suggests she wear the short black Gucci dress. Problem solved!

Of course, the girls are being harassed by the tabloids, whose top personnel are shown being evil.

And then there are the guys pitching their idea for a Spice Girls movie. Some of what we see is supposedly their imagination. Including a Dukes of Hazzard style incident with a bus, which was done so cheaply it's obviously not real.

In the closing credits, the girls are actually more talented delivering dialogue because they are being themselves, not merely playing exaggerated versions of themselves. I've never seen communication with the movie audience quite like this!

It's not for people looking for Shakespeare. But if you want to laugh and hear music that is bubbly and upbeat, this is pretty good.

While I found Ginger and Posh Spice hot growing up I wasn't really particularly a Spice Girls fan. But as years went on I found myself liking them and their music and thinking back on them fondly.

This film came out around the peak of their popularity in 1997. It's a pretty silly movie with a silly plot but as I said it's a guilty pleasure for me

I'm not even kidding, just think of any adjective and it probably accurately describes some aspect of this movie. That's about the only input I can possibly give, because describing it in any other way would portray it as "good", or "bad", or "somewhere in the middle", when really it isn't on that spectrum at all; it just is what it is, and that's that.

... but that statement alone immediately makes it superior to any number of "Wannabe" (Arggghhhh!) Oscar-winners that are actually pretentious cr*p. I know it's a cliche, but this film has a clear idea of its place in the scheme of things, and it knows it's not got a shot of toppling "Citizen Kane" from the public's affections, so it just sets out to have fun. Whether the audience will be doing the same is a different matter entirely. If you can stomach random sequences strung together with barely an excuse for a plot, and countless jokes that can most kindly be described as of the 'hit & miss' variety, you should be alright. Hey, if you watch this movie of your own volition and STILL feel you are justified in complaining that it's awful, you deserve everything you get. Myself, I think it's churlish to overly criticise such a harmless piece of fluff that is obviously desperate to be liked. So I won't. It's about as good as could have been reasonably expected. (There I go, damning it with faint praise!)

Incidentally, of the girls, only Victoria shows the ability to at least deliver a line adequately. Having said that, don't expect her to be appearing in a Scorsese movie anytime soon (There I go again... !)

We'll just ignore the fact that numerous actors belittle their art in various cameo appearances. (Grant, Hoskins & Cumming, I'm looking at you!) Notice I didn't include Roger Moore in that group. I didn't think it appropriate. After all, this is just his level.