This weekend I had the pleasure of watching Spiceworld - the Spice Girl's Movie. I first saw the film a number of years ago with my young (female) cousins who knew all the words to the entire film, soundtrack and all the dancemoves. The next time I saw the film was at a girly sleepover movie night when we watched other girly classics like Dirty Dancing and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. It had been a number of years since I'd viewed Spiceworld, and I'd almost forgotten just how good it is.
Before seeing their film I wasn't a fan of the Spice Girls . I thought they were the worst example of a contemptuous music industry grinding out manufactured nonsense for what they thought the market would consume. I first watched the movie against my will, when it was the only way to keep my young cousins quiet one night when I was babysitting them. The antics of these young girls, singing and dancing along to the ridiculous movie won me over.
Spiceworld really is a ridiculous movie, and it changed my opinon of the Spice Girls. The film is a pisstake, a parody of the highest degree with the Girls mercilessly taking the piss out of themselves, their music, their industry, their peers, the film trade, and their lives in general. Essentially the film covers a few days in the lives of the Spice Girls at the height of their fame, with the Girls playing themselves and thus perhaps not having to act too much. Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, does a particularly good job of taking the piss out of her character. There are A-list cameos from the likes of Elton John, Roger Moore, Jennifer Saunders, Bob Geldof, Meatloaf and Barry Humphries and apparently much of the film was ad-libbed. It is camp, it is silly and it is so nice to see performers who don't take themselves or their careers too seriously.
Spiceworld was produced nearly ten years ago but thanks to the ridiculous costumes and the soundtrack (like it or not many Spice Girls tracks are now considered pop classics) the film has aged particularly well. It was also interesting to note that Scary Spice (Mel B) is totally HOT! How did I not notice this before?? All in all Spiceworld is a top film - funny, silly and surprisingly entertaining.
