Clever and energetic, and not nearly as bad as you've heard

Rating: 7/10 (11 August 2003)

In the 1990's, the Spice Girls were the reigning queens of pop, selling countless amounts of records across the world. An unprecedented marketing blitz followed, culminating in the film "Spice World." Backlash was inevitable, and many were ready to dismiss the film or praise the film solely based on their dislike or enjoyment of the Spice Girls' music. When reviewed as a film in its own right, "Spice World" is a very entertaining movie with its tongue always firmly in its meta-textual cheek.
The Spice Girls -- Geri Halliwell (Ginger), Melanie Brown (Scary), Emma Bunton (Baby), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty), and Victoria Adams (Posh, now Victoria Beckham) -- play themselves. The Girls are getting ready for their first live concert in Royal Albert Hall, but their preparation is beset with several obstacles, including the overdue pregnancy of the Girls' best friend ("AbFab"'s Naoko Mori) and a vicious tabloid editor (Barry Humphries) that wants to see them ruined so he can the ensuing headlines will sell millions of papers. A host of supporting characters add to the mix, including the Girls' high-strung manager (Richard Grant), an insidious paparazzo (Richard O'Brien), a clueless documentary film-maker (Alan Cumming), and a Hollywood producer/screenwriter duo (George Wendt/Mark McKinney) relentless pitching ideas to the Girls' manager for movie spin-offs.
The Girls do play themselves to a point, but they are more accurately playing themselves as the public sees them. Sporty is always on an exercise bike, for instance, and Baby is never without a lollipop or stuffed animal. They live up to their stereotypes and play them to the ultimate hilt. The Girls themselves seem relaxed, with the most confident performance coming from Geri, who seems quite natural on the screen. Mel B and Emma both seem almost as relaxed, but Mel C seems like she needs a little more coaching on screen presence. Victoria, unfortunately, looks quite uncomfortable whenever the camera focuses on her, and in some scenes she actually comes off as resentful that she had to star in this film.
The director, Bob Spiers, is best known perhaps for his work on the series "Absolutely Fabulous", and he brings the same comic hand to this film has he did to that supremely funny show. The comedy is played light, never too much over-the-top, although a good deal of silliness is inserted. Dramatic moments are often muted by a small joke or bit of campy melodrama. Nothing is ever taken too seriously, and the film clips along at a good pace, peppered with hilarious fantasy sequences, knowing self-parody, and satirical jabs at everything from hospital drama to action movie car chases.
The film is full of cameos as well, including both musicians and non-musicians. Elvis Costello turns up as a bartender, while Meatloaf plays the driver of the Spice Bus (a double-decker bus emblazoned with SPICE on its roof). Jennifer Saunders shows up as a bitchy fashionista, while Bob Hoskins' role is too funny to give away here.
It's easy to see why some people dislike the film, however. The soundtrack tries to fit as many Spice Girls songs as possible into the film, which is to be expected, but the songs themselves are of a wildly varying quality, from the rousing "Spice Up Your Life" to the questionable "Viva Forever." It's also hard to buy the Girls' backstory as struggling musicians, and the film lacks any kind of dramatic tension, which may be intentional, but it gives the film a fluffy quality that does not appeal to everybody. Some moments in the film now seem oddly indicative of future events: about a year of the release, Geri would leave the group and the Girls' next album without her would signal the end of the act, with all the Girls going on to solo careers of amazingly diverse success (Geri and Mel C have score the best, while nobody wants to hear Victoria's album, ever). Keep this in mind during the fantasy sequence with Stephen Fry as a square judge.
All in all, "Spice World" is a very entertaining diversion. It's a pop song in film format: it's airy, fun, and slightly mindless, but for a while you forget about your worries. Certainly not as bad as people have made it out to be, but one to avoid if you really just don't like the Spice Girls. 7 out of 10.