Spice World (1997)

MUSICAL COMEDY: 1997, PG. During a concert tour, the popular British singing quintet, The Spice Girls – Ginger Spice, Baby Spice, Sporty Spice, Posh Spice and Scary Spice – tire of the drudgery of fame, fortune and popularity and try to find “themselves.” Actually, they go on tiny and meaningless adventures: they meet aliens while urinating in a forest, they fall off a boat on the Thames, they are hounded by a single (!) paparazzi. A pregnant friend asks them all to be the godmother to her child and they almost don’t make it to their big concert at Albert Hall because she is late in giving birth. They make, end of film.

VIOLENCE/SCARINESS: None.

CRIMES: None.

MORALS, ISSUES & VALUES: The film is clearly and clumsily structured to provide “good” role models: while almost everyone in the adult world surrounding the Girls drinks and smokes – and presumably has sex – they are totally innocent of these vices (one has a tattoo and another a stud in her tongue, but that’s about as far as they go). Of course, they rebel against authority, mostly male and adult. An important part of their lives seems to change clothes as often as possible – this includes many cleavage-revealing outfits, bare midriffs, very short skirts, etc. They also represent young women standing up for each other – their mutual loyalty and their connections to their personal friends come before business. One of their friends is an unmarried pregnant teen who they totally support.

SEXUALITY & GENDER ISSUES: The Spice Girls’ lives seem to be run mostly by men, from their domineering (but silly) manager to a mysterious power broker (also silly). The Spice Girls represent a variety of contemporary and on-the-surface attractive (i.e., marketable) role models, none of which are really very useful in daily life (but that’s par for most movies). The Girls reject male dancers who wear tight, revealing shorts. In a “compromise” between the Girls and Italian TV, the men later appear fully clothed but with holes strategically cut to reveal their buttocks.

SUBSTANCES: Wine at parties. Men smoke cigars and cigarettes. Some hard liquor at a bar. But the Spice Girls never smoke or drink.

COMMENTS: The fact that “Spice World” is a bad film, a monumentally bad film with no acting, no plot to speak of and miserable writing, is irrelevant. Kids will want to see it, not for its filmic values, but to suck up some manufactured insight into the latest pop sensation, The Spice Girl (who, presumably and hopefully, will be quickly forgotten along with Twiggy, Tiny Tim and Bubble Gum music). As rock-and-roll personalities go, they are pretty benign and occasionally tend to have some charm.

STARRING: The Spice Girls: Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisolm, Victoria Adams and Melanie. With Richard E. Grant, Bob Hoskins, Roger Moore, Meatloaf, George Wendt, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Bob Geldoff, Claire Rushbrook, Alan Cumming.

ALTERNATES: Try “Hard Day’s Night” instead. “Absolute Beginners” and “The Buddy Holly Story” might also be of interest.