I quite like it really...

Rating: Null/10 (22 February 1999)

I think this film is incredible. A lot of criticism has been levied at it because of the glamourisation of the spice girls. However, my own reading of it is that it shows up the spice girls for what they really are; a group of talentless, uninteresting, stereotypes. Remember that the film itself is an event, and so should be viewed not on a purely entertainment level, but also on a physical plane. Yes, the spice girls were selling out completely, and made an embarrassing spectacle of themselves by making this film, but then it is also a document of their final months as a band. Soon after the release of the film, splits within the band were noticeable and this lead - as I'm sure we all know - to the departure of geri halliwell, reducing the fiesty five down to a floppy four. The post-ginger spice viewing of this film is remarkable entertainment, and gives meaning to the in-band strain. Halfway through the film, the spice girls question the roles that they have been typecast into as to why they should be them. They try each others role for a photoshoot, but this is all swallowed down as fun and frolics, and just as long as ginger spice returns back to her normal bumptious and gory self, then that's fine. They are trapped in their glossy image, and they can't escape. There is no hope. The ending of the film, I believe, is not a happy one. They tried to resist the mould that had been set for them by their media image, and in the end they submit to it and have to carry on and perform for the fans that have paid premium prices to see the spice girls, and not five individuals.