Review
For those of you who expected Spice World to be a total waste of film and money, don't be so quick to judge.
While Spice World certainly won't give Titanic any serious competition at the box office or with the critics, it's not as bad as everyone expects it to be. The question remains, though: is it worth spending seven bucks to watch five British babes run around in short dresses for an hour and a half? Probably not.
Unfortunately, girl power does not drive this movie far enough to be as good as The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night or Spinal Tap's This is Spinal Tap, other rock n' roll mock-umentaries that turned out to be pretty decent film experiences while capitalizing on the star personas within the group.
But give the Spice Girls some credit. In the midst of a terrible script and poor directing, Scary, Baby, Sporty, Ginger and Posh shine as the brightest spots in this film.
The movie is plotless and pointless. The surrounding actors are lame and cheesy. The directing is elementary and unoriginal. But in the middle of it all are the Spice Girls.
These girls are great at playing, well, themselves. They are cute, witty, very funny and they even made me laugh a few times.
The "story," if you dare to call it that, is quite simple: the Spiceys are about to put on a huge show which is scheduled to be televised all around the world.
While rehearsing and performing promotional duties, they are accompanied by an eccentric road manager (Richard E. Grant), his assistant (Claire Rushbrook) and an independent film crew attempting to document the girls' every move.
On their way to Albert Hall (the site of the big show), they are followed by an evil tabloid photographer (Richard O' Brien), whose boss (Barry Humphries) is set on ruining the Spice Girls' 15 minutes of fame.
Sounds pretty twisted, huh? But before you go on saying the idea looks stupid, let me just tell you that the guy almost breaks up the group! But that's all I'm gonna say about that. You'll have to discover the rest for yourself.
And on the group's side is former Cheers star George Wendt, who plays the Hollywood producer trying to convince the girls' manager to make a movie featuring the Spiceys. How is he important to the direction of the movie? Well, he's not, but he's involved in the denouement of the film.
Other notable cameos include '70s rocker Meat Loaf, who plays the girls' bus driver and rock n' roll legend Elton John, who plays himself for a short snippet at the film's start.
So just what is wrong with the script by Kim Fuller? Well, everything. The dialogue is very corny and very predictable. There is a little dry British humor, but the film's directed audience (girls from 11 to 18 years of age) probably won't understand it.
Then there's the direction. Bob Spiers, the not-so-critically acclaimed man behind Disney's live-action wannabe-classic, That Darn Cat, does about as good a job as Carnie Wilson would in a swimsuit contest. As a director, Spiers creates no direction. The story goes nowhere, and the movie goes nowhere.
Oh, yeah. The music. Well, besides five different versions of the Spice Girls' second American hit "Say You'll Be There," the music is okay ... if you like the Spice Girls, that is. A few new tunes are featured, including the current single "Too Much." Take a listen to Spice World, the album, and you'll get an idea.
But, like I said, the Spiceys are great.
There's Posh, the unofficial fashion police who can't decide whether to wear the short Gucci dress, the short Gucci dress or the short Gucci dress. There's Scary, the emotional drive of the group who's always bringing out the best in everyone. There's Sporty, who keeps everyone together, and Baby, who puts a smile on everyone's face. And, of course, there's Ginger, who serves as the comic relief of the group.
For the true Spice Girls fan, Spice World is definitely the movie for you. For the average moviegoer that's really curious, see a matinee or wait for the video.