Spice World: On-This-Day Thursday
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Every Thursday, an older film released on this opening weekend years ago will be reviewed. They can be classics, or simply popular films that happened to be released to the world on the same date.
For January 23rd, we are going to have a look at Spice World.
Doing a serious review of Spice World feels so pointless and pathetic, in all honesty. I gave the film a one out of five, which is my usual designation for films that I find so bad that they are amusing, and this is certainly true for Bob Spiers’ absolutely insane music film. However, there really shouldn’t be a rating at all. There was zero purpose for Spice World to exist outside of being an entertaining escape for (predominantly) young Spice Girls fans back in the late ‘90s. This wasn’t meant to move people, win awards, make statements, or do anything else, outside of be an hour-and-a-half session between super fans and their favourite possessors of girl power: Posh, Baby, Scary, Sporty, and Ginger Spice. In a way, Spice World is a tribute and a parody of those iconic music films from the ‘60s, including those of The Beatles (specifically A Hard Day’s Night). That’s the only other alternative goal it has in mind. Otherwise… well… what the hell even is this film?
It’s virtually impossible to take Spice World seriously, and maybe that’s the point: this was meant for the fans, so Spiers and Spice made a film that was virtually un-reviewable. None of the shenanigans the girls get into link together at all, ranging from a crazy army dance routine session (boot camp, of sorts), to a bomb being planted on the Union Jack clad double decker bus (ensuing in a Speed satire), from creepy alien fans (that sexually harass one Spice, and kiss another for a photo op), to assless chaps. This film was meant for kids, right? Who knows, but all I can say is Spice World is so damn bonkers that I actually do love it. There is so much insanity that doesn’t serve these fans at all, and yet the Spice Girls circles that continue to exist still adore this film. They accept it for what it is, even though separating its parts would reveal how strange the whole ordeal is. It doesn’t matter.
Abbey Road? Who needs roads where we’re going!
I can see how Spice World does spoof A Hard Day’s Night (and such), by characterizing the pop stars at the forefront here (plus Richard E. Grant as Clifford, lest we ever forget this beautiful gem of a role). Otherwise, it’s like a joke that went too far to the point of losing the plot, but that’s almost commendable. Spiers took the most famous band at the time (mainstream couldn’t begin to describe their stature), and gave them a film that wasn’t fit for convention whatsoever. It sounds stupid to read that, I’m sure, but think about. Really think about it. If this was starring any usual gang of actors, would this have done as well as it did? I certainly don’t think so. It’s not counter-pop like Spring Breakers, but it’s absolutely not safe by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a cult classic film made for pop culture. It’s such a paradoxical picture. If there actually is a Spice World, I might not want to live there, but I’d be lying if I claimed I didn’t want to visit it. I mean, look at it!
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.