Spice World (film)

Spice World
Genre: Comedy Musical Directed by: Bob Spiers Written by: Kim Fuller Jamie Curtis Starring: Victoria Beckham Emma Bunton Mel C Geri Halliwell Mel B Richard E. Grant Alan Cumming George Wendt Mark McKinney Roger Moore Photography: Color Distributed by: Universal Pictures (UK) Columbia Pictures (International) Release date: December 26, 1997 (United Kingdom) January 23, 1998 (United States) Country: United Kingdom Sequel: Untitled animated Spice Girls movie (In development)

Spice World is a 1997 British film starring The Spice Girls as themselves in their first feature-length film that had them as the lead roles. The film co-stars Alan Cumming, George Wendt, Mark McKinney, and Roger Moore.

Plot

The Spice Girls prepare to go on tour, but they have many misadventures while going on tour.

Why It's Not Spicy

1. Little to no story that feels like an unintentional mockumentary as well as a vanity project.
2. The Spice Girls are pretty much playing themselves, which is a terrible idea.
3. The humor isn't funny.
4. Pointless cameos by the late Bob Hoskins, Elton John, and Hugh Laurie.
5. There's a dream sequence in which one of the girls gives birth in a PG-rated film, which is inappropriate (thankfully we don't see it).
6. Pointless movie within a movie.
7. Poor acting.
8. A majority of scenes drag on.
9. Pointless scene where the girls encounter a UFO.
10. The film feels like a rip-off of A Hard Day's Night, which starred The Beatles.
11. Unfunny scenes that spoof Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Speed.
12. Laughable quotes, particularly "No more Mr. Nice Spice!"

Redeeming Qualities

1. The Spice Bus has a nice Union Jack paint scheme and looks good.
2. The songs, especially "Too Much" and "Spice Up Your Life", are catchy.
3. Certain fans of The Spice Girls may like it.

Reception

Despite being a box office hit and getting mixed reviews from moviegoers and fans, Spice World received negative reviews from critics. The film holds a 35% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 4.6 out of 10 and a critic consensus that states "Spice World's lack of cohesive plot will likely lose most viewers, but for fans of the titular girl group there's more than enough fun to be had in their wacky -- albeit superficial -- whirlwind of an adventure." Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film with 0.5 out of 4 stars and stated in his review that "Spice World" is obviously intended as a ripoff of A Hard Day's Night, which gave the Beatles to the movies. They should have ripped off more -- everything they could get their hands on." Gene Siskel of The Chicago Tribune awarded the film a 1 out of 4 stars and described it as "a blown opportunity to launch the group to an entirely new audience." Earlier that year, Ebert deemed it as his worst film of 1998 until he decided that Armageddon was his worst film of 1998. James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film a 2 out of 4 stars and said in his review "The only people who are likely to be able to sit through Spice World without casting numerous yearning glances at the exit are those who number themselves among the group's legion of die-hard fans."

In June 2019, Paramount was planning for an animated Spice Girls film with the Spice Girls as superheroes.

Box Office

The film opened up at #2 on its opening weekend grossing $10,527,222. It would later make a total domestic gross of $29,342,592. The film made a total worldwide gross of $151 million against its $25 million budget.

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, but lost to An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. It won only one award for The Spice Girls as Worst Actress.

Trivia

• This movie almost had a cameo of Gary Glitter during the "Leader of the Gang" sequence, but this had to be cut after he was arrested for child pornography offenses. Glitter's scene has since been leaked online.

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