Spice World

Spice World
December 15, 1997
Columbia
Musical, Comedy
VHS
C+

This movie has of course dated badly, but let me first offer you some background on where I'm coming from, because my criticisms are probably not the usual ones.  My housemate of the time (still one of my dearest friends) was then a 21-year-old gay man who loved the Spice Girls and he'd play their music a lot.  Since I like pop music, I soon grew to like them.  I was never a great fan, but I could tell them apart.  (Well, to this day I can't remember which is Mel B. and which Mel C., but I knew their Spice identities.)  He, I, and another of his besties went to see this movie.  At almost 30, I was the oldest woman there who wasn't accompanied by a preteen daughter.  We had a blast, with the goofiness and the music.

Watching it now, when the Girls breaking up is no longer a plot complication and it's hard to remember their international popularity, what's left is a movie that did not exactly do for the Spices what A Hard Day's Night did for the Beatles one-third of a century earlier.  I want to like this movie more, at least on a camp level, but the problem is that it does not in fact present a "Spice World."  They don't dominate the screen like the Beatles did.  There are too many sideplots and side characters, with the girls offscreen too much of the time.  Even when we get to see them perform or joke around, there are too many interruptions and cuts away.  And there's a scene where the girls play dress-up, as each other and as various female icons, but much of the impact is lost when I can't tell most of them apart in long-shot.  I will say that the music remains catchy, but I'd rather watch a set of their videos, where their energy isn't thwarted as it is here.

There are lots and lots of cameos, most of them wasted, e.g. Roger Moore doing a Blofeld satire that seems feeble after Dr. Evil.  Jonathan Ross plays himself, as he did in The Tall Guy, but that's pretty meaningless to an American.  And having Barry Humphries appear out of Dame Edna Everage drag seems a little pointless.  (This is 19 years after his brief appearance in Sgt. Pepper by the way.)  On the other hand, I realize that most people don't care that I was happy to see Neil Mullarkey show up, even if it's just for one line.  Bob Hoskins is in a brief sight gag, pretending to be Ginger.  (Don't ask.)  Elvis Costello appears 18 years after Americathon, but much more briefly.

Another Americathon survivor, Meat Loaf, is, no, not a roadie, but a bus driver for the Spices.  Alan Cumming, who's usually entertainingly awkward (as he was in Emma and Romy & Michele, and as he would be again in Josie and the Pussycats), is just awkward here.  Hugh Laurie does the best he can in one scene as Poirot (where Baby Spice gets away with murder), but his old friend Stephen Fry almost steals the movie in his scene as a stern judge.

Note, the joke about a potential Clinton scandal of him tucking his shirt into his underwear became ironic by the time this film hit America.

Like animals in the zoo, as baffled by us as we are by them.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
May 2, 1997
New Line Cinema
Comedy
DVD
B-

At the time I reviewed Wayne's World, I didn't yet own this movie, also starring and written by Mike Myers.  I wasn't sure about buying it, because although I enjoyed it very much the two or three times I saw it in the '90s, I had a feeling it wouldn't age well.  Also, the sequels had gotten progressively worse.  (I nearly walked out of the third movie.)  But I found it on sale at a low price, so I decided to take a chance.  Verdict: some of it hasn't aged well, but it's still entertaining.

The things that felt so fresh in '97, like the homage/parody of the cinematic version of Swingin' London, still look good.  The bathroom humor was never that great to begin with, and now it looks not only unfunny but quaint, having been outdone by not only its own sequels but the likes of There's Something About Mary (which I haven't seen but know of) and the American Pie movies (I've seen three).  Even some of the cute parodic devices, like the couple walking through local sites and sights, had been done better in Purple Rose of Cairo or would be done better in Down With Love (which more consistently creates the world of the '60s).  Also, that Mike Myers annoyance factor is there, although still far from the days when just the poster of The Love Guru could make me cringe.

That said, there's some funny stuff here, with Dr. Evil's "The details of my life are quite inconsequential" monologue as the real stand-out.  (I think Myers is more entertaining as the villain than the hero.)  There's also a bit of poignancy, as Austin realizes that times have changed and he may have to change, too.  It's fun to see how many people (most of them, alas, untaggable) show up, from Burt Bacharach to Patrick Bristow from Ellen Degeneres's then current sitcom.  Michael York is best of all, as the aptly named Basil Exposition.

Rob Lowe has a much smaller role here than he did in Wayne's World: Decapitated Henchman's Friend.  Carrie Fisher has a nice little scene as the Therapist.  By then 23-year-old Seth Green plays what would turn out to be a recurring role, as Scott Evil.

Neil Mullarkey, who's the Quartermaster Clerk here, would be Barnaby in Spice World, though I know him best for the British impro troupe The Comedy Store Players and their various endeavors on TV.  Ted Kairys, Eastern European Technician here, would be Gerard in Legally Blonde.  Steve Monroe, who plays one of the sons at the father-son therapy group, would be Frank Tobin in Miss Congeniality.