8 out of 10
 

Feeling depressed, unhappy, miserable? Then go to Spice World, 90 minutes of sheer entertainment. I was truly surprised at this light, fluffy film and came out realizing how many years it has been since I had so much fun at the cinema.

Yes, they do perform a whole line of hits, but they`ve neatly woven them into the "story" and, even if you`d never heard of them, it`s amusing. Running along the same style as the "Monkeys" TV series of the 1960`s, they ruthlessly send up the Media and everyone in it, including the film`s own audience, as they sprint around in a bus made, apparently by the same manufacturers who built Dr Who`s Tardis. One could compare it to Woody Allen type humour, only it`s done rather better with the joke about the cure for "deja vu" so simple and clever, one has to wonder why it wasn`t thought of before. Although much of the humour is obvious ("Posh" on the assault course is really very, very funny), there`s certain moments of great subtlety that can be missed if you`re not paying attention, such as the endless guff's from the TV documentary anchorman, Jools Holland`s comments and the recurring gag about the Manta Ray fish.

The film is not without faults. It`s inconsistent, the plot is negligible and they don`t seem to have quite know what to do with the last 15 minutes for an ending. Yet this Postmodernist film`s determination to knife everyone so comprehensively even extends to the film sending itself up for its own golden moments of laughable special effects, such as openly using Dinky toys for the stunt on the bridge. Likewise, although only VIctoria Adams and Emma Bunton put in noteworthy acting out of the 5 girls, it doesn`t matter. A vintage performance by Barry Humphries as a thinly disguised Conrad Black, Meatloaf as their bus driver and an endless occurrence of brief cameo appearances by Elvis Costello, Bob Hoskins, Roger Moore and Bob Geldof to name but a few, ensures that yo are never bored.