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Spice World (film)

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Spice World
A sparkling Union Jack flag with four women standing in front and a red haired woman crouched down in front
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBob Spiers
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyClive Tickner
Edited byAndrea MacArthur
Music byPaul Hardcastle
Distributed byPolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Release dates
  • 15 December 1997 (1997-12-15) (Premiere)
  • 26 December 1997 (1997-12-26)
Running time
93 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million
Box office$100 million[2][3]

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. In the United States, Spice World became a box office hit and broke the record for the highest-ever weekend debut for Super Bowl Weekend with box office sales of $10,527,222. The film grossed $77 million at the box office worldwide and over $100 million including DVD sales.[3] Despite being a box office success, the film received primarily negative reviews.

Plot

The film begins with the Spice Girls performing "Too Much" on Top of the Pops, but they become dissatisfied with the burdens of fame and fortune. Meanwhile, sinister newspaper owner Kevin McMaxford (Barry Humphries) is attempting to ruin the girls' reputation for his newspaper's ratings. McMaxford dispatches photographer Damien (Richard O'Brien) to take pictures and tape recordings of the girls. Less threatening but more annoying is Piers Cuthbertson-Smyth (Alan Cumming), who stalks the girls along with his camera crew, hoping to use them as subjects for his next project. At the same time, the girls' manager, Clifford (Richard E. Grant), is fending off two over-eager Hollywood writers, named Martin Barnfield and Graydon (George Wendt and Mark McKinney), who relentlessly pitch absurd plot ideas for a feature film for the Spice Girls.

Amid this, the girls must prepare for their live concert at the Albert Hall in three days, the biggest performance of their career. At the heart of it, the constant practices, traveling, publicity appearances, and other burdens of celebrity affect the girls on a personal level, preventing them from spending much time with their pregnant best friend, Nicola (Naoko Mori), who is due to give birth soon. Throughout the busy schedule, the girls attempt to ask Clifford for time off to spend with Nicola and relax, but Clifford refuses after talking with the head of the girls' record label, the cryptic and eccentric "Chief" (Roger Moore). The stress and overwork compound, which culminate in a huge argument between Clifford and the girls; the girls suddenly storm out on the evening before their gig at the Albert Hall.

The girls separately think back on their humble beginnings and their struggle to the top. They reunite by chance outside the abandoned pub where they practiced during their childhood years, they reconcile, and decide to take Nicola out dancing. However, Nicola goes into labor at the nightclub and is rushed to the hospital in the girls' bus, giving birth to a healthy baby girl. When Emma notices that the delivery "doctor" has a camera, the girls realize that he is Damien, who runs off with the girls in hot pursuit, only to hit his head after accidentally colliding with an empty stretcher. When Damien sees the girls standing over him, he tells them that they have made him see the error of his ways, and he goes after McMaxford, who is subsequently fired in a "Jacuzzi scandal".

After noticing the girls' bus driver, Dennis (Meat Loaf) is missing, Victoria decides to take the wheel. It becomes a race against time as Victoria drives like a maniac through London. While approaching Tower Bridge, the bridge begins to raise to let a boat through the River Thames. Victoria drives up the bridge and over the gap. The bus finally lands safely on the other side, but when Emma opens a trapdoor in the floor, she discovers a bomb, and the girls scream before Emma slams the trapdoor shut again.

The girls finally arrive at the Albert Hall for their performance and run up the steps. However, the girls have one more obstacle to overcome: a London policeman (Kevin McNally) charged the girls with: "dangerous driving, criminal damage, flying a bus without a license, and frightening the pigeons". Emma pushes forward and tells the policeman that she and the other girls were late for their performance at the Albert Hall. Emma smiles at the policeman, and he lets the girls off for their performance. The film ends when the girls perform their song "Spice Up Your Life" at the center stage of the Albert Hall.

The supporting cast later talk about the girls' film during the closing credits. Mel C breaks the fourth wall and tells the other girls that the outgoing audience is watching them. The girls talk to the audience, commenting on "those two in the back row snogging" and on one's dress, and discuss their film, just minutes before the bomb in their bus explodes.

Cast

Music

An official motion picture soundtrack hasn't been released, since their second studio album Spiceworld was released at the time, heavily promoted and served as the film's soundtrack. The songs appearing in the film are in order of appearance.

Production

Development

Geri Halliwell's red swimsuit from the film.

Spiers had been working in America on the Disney film That Darn Cat at the peak of the Spice Girls' popularity. He was unaware of the group when first offered the job until his friend Jennifer Saunders advised that he take it. He arrived at a meeting with them in a New York hotel unaware of what they looked like.[4]

Casting

Frank Bruno was originally cast as the tour bus driver, but withdrew from the film after a security guard prevented his son Franklin from having an on-set photo taken with the girls.

Two real-world deaths after filming prompted edits to the film. Mentions of Princess Diana and scenes including the designer Gianni Versace were made in the film but cut out because they were both alive when the film was made but both died prior to release.

The film reunited Meat Loaf and Richard O'Brien, who costarred in the 1975 classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The film also reunited O'Brien and Barry Humphries, who costarred in the Rocky Horror follow-up, Shock Treatment.

Gary Glitter controversy

Gary Glitter filmed a four-minute cameo appearance as himself, but shortly before the film was to be released he was arrested on child pornography offences. The Spice Girls and the production team agreed that his cameo should be deleted from the final print. The performance of Glitter's "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)" was retained.

The Spice Bus

The actual bus used in the Spice World movie.

On 18 July 2014, The Spice Bus used in the film was put on permanent display at Island Harbour Marina, on the Isle of Wight, England.

Release

Rating

In the United Kingdom, Spice World was granted a PG certificate by the British Board of Film Classification for "mild bad language, mild sex references".[1] In the United States, it received a PG rating from the Motion Picture Association of America for "some vulgarity, brief nudity and language".

Box office

The film was a hit at the box office, breaking the record for the highest-ever weekend debut for Super Bowl Weekend (25 January 1998) in the US, with box office sales of $10,527,222.[5] The film took in total $100 million at the box office worldwide.[2][6]

Critical reception

The film received generally negative reviews from critics. Film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave Spice World a rating of 29% based on reviews from 34 critics, with an average rating of 4.6 out of 10.[8] On Metacritic, the film has a 32 out of 100 rating, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9] AllMovie gave it 2/5 stars.[7]

Noted American film critic Roger Ebert gave the film one-half of a star and listed Spice World as one of his most hated films, saying: "The Spice Girls are easier to tell apart than the Mutant Ninja Turtles, but that is small consolation: What can you say about five women whose principal distinguishing characteristic is that they have different names? They occupy "Spice World" as if they were watching it: They're so detached they can't even successfully lip-synch their own songs." And when he reviewed the film on his and Gene Siskel's film critique programme Siskel & Ebert, only three weeks into 1998, he declared that he had already seen the worst film of that year, and called it "an entertainment-free dead zone". Ebert would include this film on the Worst of 1998 special; but he chose Armageddon as the worst film of 1998.[10][11]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times stated that the film "is pleasant and painless enough to amuse ardent fans, who figure in the film quite often." She also noted that while it got a PG rating in the United States, "nothing about it should disturb its target audience of media-wise, fun-loving 8-year-old girls."[12] Writing for Sight and Sound, in a positive review, Mark Sinker placed it alongside The Monkees' 1968 cult film Head. He went on to say that it "sends up the amiable idiocy of pop packaging - and the slow witted mass-media response to it" and it was "tirelessly generous in its energy".[13]

Accolades

The film has been listed in Golden Raspberry Awards founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of "The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made".[14]

Award Category Subject Result
Golden Raspberry Award Worst Actress Spice Girls Won
Worst New Star Nominated
Worst Original Song ("Too Much") Nominated
Paul Wilson Nominated
Andy Watkins Nominated
Worst Supporting Actor Roger Moore Nominated
Worst Screen Couple Any combination of two people, body parts or fashion accessories Nominated
Worst Screenplay Jamie Curtis Nominated
Kim Fuller Nominated
Worst Picture Uri Fruchtmann Nominated
Barnaby Thompson Nominated

Home media

Spice World – The 10th Anniversary Edition was released on DVD on 19 November 2007 in the United Kingdom and Australia and 27 November 2007 in the United States.

References

  1. ^ a b "SPICE WORLD - THE MOVIE (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 27 November 1997. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  2. ^ a b Entertainment Weekly. Benjamin Svetkey. Pag. 2 Cover Story: Tour Divorce?. 17 July 1998. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  3. ^ a b Spice Girls Official. Biography. 19 Management Entertainment.
  4. ^ Bob Spiers and Stacey Adair, Joking Apart, Series 2 Episode 2, DVD audio commentary, replaydvd.co.uk
  5. ^ Opening weekend box office sales in the US. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 25 June 2006.
  6. ^ IMDb. Spiceworld: The Movie box office. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 1 July 2008.
  7. ^ a b Spice World at AllMovie
  8. ^ a b "Spice World (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Spice World Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  10. ^ "Ebert's Most Hated". Chicago Sun-Times.
  11. ^ "Spice World". Chicago Sun-Times.
  12. ^ Janet Maslin (23 January 1998). "'Spice World': Hits and Hairdos on the Spice Rack". The New York Times.
  13. ^ Sinker, Mark (February 1998). "Spice World". Sight and Sound: 49. ISSN 0037-4806.
  14. ^ Wilson, John (2005). The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-69334-0.
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