One of the reasons that the Spice Girls remain so much fun is that in the great British tradition, they don't take themselves too seriously. Like The Beatles before them, the girls are more than happy to take pot-shots at their own manufactured image, something that Spiceworld: The Movie revels in. It doesn't hurt, of course, that plenty of others are along for the ride: Richard E. Grant chews scenery as the road manager; Meat Loaf is the kindly, ever-reliable bus driver; Elvis Costello (!) makes a tongue-in-cheek cameo; and Roger Moore is... well, bizarre. The plot,... as such, is merely a convenience, somehow tying together the girls' first-ever live concert, a pregnant friend, a documentary film crew, a non-Spice love story, and something or other about a tabloid photographer. But that's not the point--what matters here is a surprisingly deft touch by director Bob Spiers and a script that refuses to take anything too seriously; the result is a gentle self-parody that knows just how far to take the joke. --Randy Silver [show more]
No manufactured fad band that doesn"t know any songs by Hawkwind will ever stand a chance with me, so of course those (wretched) Spice Girls have never been my thing. Even so, I was determined to view their cinematic debut objectively and yes, I object!
This is supposed to be a week-in-the-life sort of thing, except that it isn"t - Richard E. Grant plays their manager, there"s an emphasis on supposedly wacky comedy and there are even some dodgy rubber aliens thrown in for good measure. So, as a lightweight, crazy romp, it doesn"t have to stand as good art, but it could at least be funny. It ain"t - it"s not even amusing - and the surprising thing is that Bob Spiers is the man in charge. That name might not mean a lot to cinemagoers, but to fans of truly classic BBC comedy such as 'Fawlty Towers' and 'Absolutely Fabulous', it is a name to be venerated. Bob Spiers! And it"s still not funny. Hoards of stars making cameo appearances (Jennifer Saunders, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Roger Moore, Bob Hoskins, Richard Briers...) and it"s still not funny. Michael Barrymore is in it... of course it"s not funny (after all these years, this poor man"s Cleese is still about as amusing as kidney failure).
Story-wise? Who cares? It"s an episodic movie and that"s fine, but I will say that one of these episodes, in which the girls have a word with a comatose kid in order to bring him round, is in pretty poor taste. And it"s pointless too, I mean, what could the Spice Girls possibly have to say to anyone beyond "Hello, I"m Mel B" or "Hello, I"m Mel C"?
It"s a hard day"s night making it through this tragical mystery tour. If you like it, you need help. It"s tedious, it"s dumb, it"s got the Spice Girls in it, and it"s the worst film I"ve sat through since Michael Jackson"s 'Moonwalker'. I"ll tell you watcha want, watcha really, really want: to be watching literally anything else (got any paint drying?) AWFUL in block capitals, yet it sold... and sold... and sold...
The DVD has both widescreen (for the devoted) and fullframe (for the deluded) transfers, a nice 5.1 soundtrack (if you're going to listen to drivel, the drivel may as well sound good), and no extras whatsoever (save for some note thingies), which, in the case of 'Spiceworld' is probably a good thing!! And, just for the record, it would appear to have been deleted. YIPPEE!!
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