spiceworld Turns 20
It’s been two decades since the fabulous fivesome gave us what we really, really wanted…
Opening credits. Music begins. The world’s most famous girl band appear, dressed in matching white mesh and crooning for the cameras. The song? Too Much. And so began 90 of the most bonkers, tongue-in-cheek minutes ever. There are aliens, male dancers wearing bum-less chaps, Roger Moore stroking a piglet – and that’s just for starters. Too much… but also, just enough.
Can you believe it’s been 20 years since Spice World divided a nation? Since we went crazy watching our favourite girl group zig-a-zig-ah their way through a nonsensical plot – all the while distracted by more celeb cameos and send-ups than a year’s subscription to heat – while critics universally panned it. There’s a thin line between “terrible” and “so bad it’s amazing”, and, let’s be honest, we all know on which side this movie is forever entrenched. Hear that, Rotten Tomatoes? Shove your 36 per cent rating. As far as heat is concerned, the film is a cinematic masterpiece.
Admittedly, Spice World was not the first film to roast the cult of pop-star celebrity – that had been done 33 years before by The Beatles when, during the height of Beatlemania, the fab four played themselves fleeing from schoolgirl fans in A Hard Day’s Night. But our platform trainer-stomping, bikini-bra-clad feminists took the term “self-aware” and added some serious spice to the mix. Honestly, have you ever seen a more raw and nuanced performance than Posh Spice playing Posh Spice? Watching Victoria Beckham (then Adams) flapping away in the Thames, while hissing, “This dress is dry-clean only, Melanie!” never disappoints.
The premise, if any, is fairly straightforward. Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Vic, melb
and Mel C are playing themselves, gearing up for a performance at the Royal Albert Hall, at a time when Spicemania was deafening. While in the movie, we see the rowdy five drench Elton John in luvvy kisses and get driven in a tour bus by Meat Loaf, real life was even more star-filled (Princes Charles, William and Harry all attended the film’s London premiere in their tuxedos).
But while the celebrity cameos are endless, the film hardly rests on name-dropping alone. Instead, it sends up every British trope: James Bond, Agatha Christie, bloodthirsty tabloid journos and crooked newspaper moguls. Roger Moore, meanwhile, is their manager’s manager, an archetypal Bond villain, spewing meaningless riddles like, “When the rabbit of chaos is pursued by the ferret of disorder, it is time to hang your pants on the hook of darkness.” Too true, Rog.
Like many masterpieces, Spice World was grievously misunderstood in its own time – the infamous critic Roger Ebert was particularly unforgiving, commenting, “The Spice Girls are easier to tell apart than the Mutant Ninja Turtles, but that is small consolation. They have no personalities, their bodies are carriers for inane chatter.” Meanwhile, all five girls were collectively awarded the following year’s Razzie (the anti-oscar awards) for Worst Actress in a movie. But thankfully, slowly but surely, the film has turned into the cult hit it was destined to be. One that is frenetic, bonkers, cringe-worthy and so much fun. Seriously, how progressive was it to have five main female stars who didn’t once get weighed down by a romantic interest? Sure, screaming “girl power” can get a little tedious. But they were also fighting patriarchy in the form of controlling managers, invasive snappers and dominant dance instructors (played by Michael Barrymore, who doubled up as a military drill sergeant).
It would be impossible to name our favourite bit, so instead, we’ll leave you with a few of the most choice and memorable moments. One: when aliens land and ask for the group’s autographs… and a snog from Geri. Two: when they rip the proverbial out of each other by dressing up as each other’s personas. We especially love Vic dressed as Baby Spice in blonde pigtails, declaring, “My mummy’s my best friend.” And finally, in an unforgettable stroke of special effects ingenuity during the climactic bus-chase, visuals cut to a toy bus crossing a toy version of Tower Bridge in London – summing up the very point of Spice World. To be silly, different, playful – and gloriously pointless.
‘Slowly but surely, Spice World has turned into a cult hit’