Spice World
It is likely this movie will only appeal to the hordes of shrieking teeny boppers who have bought into the quintet's dumbed-down feminism and forgettable pop, but just in case you were actually thinking about spending $8 on this flick, here's my careful, reasoned analysis.
There are two movies in particular which have successfully brought the world of pop music to the big screen: A Hard Day's Night and Spinal Tap. The first was a cultural phenomenon which brought the Fab Four's endearing antics to America, the second a scathing, brilliantly witty pseudo-documentary of life in a hard rock group. The Beatles were a talented, relevant group whose music changed popular culture, and Spinal Tap was a hilarious satire, skewering the egos of dumb rock stars and the masses who love their shtick. Spice World falls somewhere in the middle.
The Spice Girls will be a rock footnote in a year, but the interesting thing is that they accept this, and Spice World keeps the fact of their manufactured fame tongue-in-cheek. I credit the Spice Girls with knowing that they are mere product, mocking their image and the media's unwarranted interest in them. Still, hitting a target this easy is no great feat, and the movie results in a strange mixture of slightly amusing self-mockery and blatant self-promotion.
Their music is heavily featured - what else do you need to know? Because the "music" is so prevalent, it gives the film the feeling of being an overly long video with silly vignettes in between, and because of this, their music deserves a bit of commentary.
Nothing is more offensive than inoffensive music, and music that is tailor-made for mass consumption deserves double damnation. However, there are worse practitioners. "Artists" like Meatloaf (who fittingly plays the role of the Spice Girls bus driver), Kenny G and particularly Celene Dion are far, far worse. Their music is pure evil cleverly disguised as relentless mediocrity, made all the worse by how seriously these artists take themselves. This fact alone is why the Spice Girls aren't quite as bad. They're as ridiculous as the rest, but they realize this and exploit it. That doesn't make it OK, but it lessens my contempt.
I was fully prepared to slam this movie into the ground, but it wasn't as awful as I expected, due to the reasons stated above. I suppose it might have been funnier if I had known, or cared, about the micron-deep public images of each Girl, but there were nevertheless a few (with the emphasis on "few") moments of light comedy where they spoof themselves and the media blitz that inexplicably follows them. It might have been more interesting if the film had been truly horrendous - as it was, I was merely bored out of my mind. Still, if you're going to spend any money on the Spice Girls, see this movie rather than buying their CD. You'll save a few bucks, hear more than enough of their music to last you forever, and you won't have to worry about how to recycle the plastic jewel box when you toss that sucker.
- Jared O'Connor
MOVIES
All Content © 1997, 1998 Jared O'Connor and Michael Baker