Taglines: You say you want a revolution?
Spice World movie storyline. The Spice Girls have become superstars and a global phenomenon. As they prepare for what may be their most prestigious concert to date at Royal Albert Hall in London, everyone in the world wants their two pounds of flesh from the girls at their expense. Their manager Clifford and his behind the scenes boss “The Chief” want to control all aspects of the girls’ lives with the sole goal of getting them to the concert in the best shape possible.
A documentary film crew wants 24/7 access amidst the girls’ busy schedule. A Hollywood pitch team wants them to star in a movie, they pitching one outlandish idea after another. The London tabloids want to print whatever salacious story they can get their hands on, even if it ruins the girls’ careers. And even some out of this world visitors want what all their adoring fans want.
Through it all, the girls, who want to have some fun along the way, evaluate their lives and wonder if they’ve lost sight of what is really important in life, those priorities, like being with their pregnant best friend Nicola, which may be incompatible with being pop superstars.
Spice World is a 1997 British musical comedy film directed by Bob Spiers and written by Kim Fuller and Jamie Curtis. The film stars pop girl group the Spice Girls who all play themselves. The lighthearted comedy — made in a similar vein to The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night (1964) — depicts a series of fictional events leading up to a major concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall, liberally interspersed with dream sequences and flashbacks as well as surreal moments and humorous asides.
This is the second feature-length film directed by Spiers, following That Darn Cat (1997). The film features Richard E. Grant, Claire Rushbrook, Naoko Mori, Meat Loaf, Barry Humphries, and Alan Cumming in supporting roles. Filming took place in London, England for six of the eight filming weeks and also inside Twickenham Studios, as well as at over 40 famous British landmarks. Shooting featured several fourteen-hour shooting sessions and a constant, heavy media presence due to the Spice Girls’ large popularity at the time.
The film premiered on 15 December 1997 and was released in British cinemas on the British holiday Boxing Day (26 December). In North America, the film was distributed by Columbia Pictures, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, and Icon Entertainment International and premiered on 23 January 1998.
Film Review for Spice World
ittle more than an excuse to exploit the success of the Spice Girls, “Spice World” is a grossly lacking project, even for those who enjoy the music. Essentially a ripoff of the Beatles’ “A Hard Days Night,” this endeavor only highlights the fact that the Spice Girls are not nearly as famous and their music is not nearly as universally recognized. A slew of cameos and familiar supporting cast members can’t save the film from its own bad dialogue, poor choreography, and painful lip-syncing. Apparently, everyone was in it just for the paycheck.
Piers Cuthbertson-Smyth (Alan Cumming) is a documentarian desperately trying to obtain footage for his latest project, a look at the popular five-girl singing group, the Spice Girls: Ginger (Geraldine Halliwell), Baby (Emma Bunton), Posh (Victoria Adams), Sporty (Melanie Chisholm), and Scary (Melanie Brown). While he struggles to sneak into parties where they cavort and onto sets where they practice, the girls themselves prepare for a big stage show in England.
Meanwhile, their eccentric manager is in cahoots with Chief (Roger Moore), the man who feels he is responsible for their success and can take it away with a snap of his fingers – or a caress of his squealing bovine. If that wasn’t enough, a mysterious paparazzi spy gets carried away snapping pictures of the fivesome to paste all over the headlines. And, to top it all off, a pair of filmmakers pitch their idea of a Spice Girl movie to studio executives, which, as it turns out, is basically the very movie that is unfolding.
Since the story is largely pointless (it’s curious that a narrative exists at all), and little else really holds attention spans, it’s easy to pick out inaccuracies and bits of concepts that don’t quite add up. For one, the girls drive around in the Spice Bus, a blue and red monstrosity that has an impossibly large interior.
So impossibly large, in fact, that it doesn’t even pretend to make sense. Workout equipment, couches, beds, and all sorts of other furniture are scattered throughout the inside of the vehicle, in shots that are clearly not capable of being inside the double-decker. And yet, the filmmakers go so far as to show the flashing lights of other vehicles zipping by the transport’s windows, even though the realism has long since been abandoned.
While each Spice Girl physically embodies stereotypical fashions, physiques, and attitudes, those characteristics don’t translate over to their personalities. Either they were all scripted to be ditzy, or they’re just naturally that way. Through constant daydream sequences, they act out various scenarios, most of which are intended to be comedy relief – despite the blatant absence of humor.
Similarly, the song and dance segments arise from nonsensical situations, and they’re furthermore choreographed with little self-respect and with obnoxious elements, such as an Army dance instructor and amateurish editing. Part of this involves Alan Cumming, playing a character that isn’t much of a stretch of the imagination, and Roger Moore, embarrassingly portraying a villain who strokes various furry animals and speaks in riddles – an obvious spoof of his own James Bond evildoers.
With brief appearances by Elton John, Bob Hoskins, and other well-known Brits; a wholeheartedly unexciting speedboat adventure; and countless attempts at sketchy humor, “Spice World” is still unable to create entertainment that reaches beyond diehard fans of the all-girl group. And even entertaining those devotees is something of a debatable success. When the group revives an unconscious sick kid by suggesting that Ginger Spice take off her top, it’s apparent that their true talents are not entirely in the music.
Spice World (1998)
Directed by: Bob Spiers
Starring: Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie C, Geri Horner, Victoria Beckham, Kevin Allen, Devon Anderson, Michael Barrymore, Elvis Costello, Alan Cumming
Screenplay by: Kim Fuller, Jamie Curtis
Production Design by: Grenville Horner
Cinematography by: Clive Tickner
Film Editing by: Andrea MacArthur
Costume Design by: Kate Carin
Set Decoration by: Linda Wilson
Art Direction by: Colin Blaymires, David Walley
Music by: Paul Hardcastle
MPAA Rating: PG for some vulgarity, brief nudity and language.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: January 23, 1998
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