First off, mid 30s dude who saw this in the movie theatre when it came out... so according to Paul, I saw it when i was a kid too...
With that said I haven't seen it in awhile, but I remember enjoying it and making me have an appreciation for The Spice Girls, because They obviously didn't take themselves seriously.. while the guys in the podcast had a problem with plot holes or trying to figure out WTF was happening... I don't think that's what this movie was about.
While Hard Days Night is the Beatles movie usually referenced in regards to this movie, it really should be Help, as I think there are direct references to help in this movie (Help could have been called Beatles World after all since they went all of the world while filming). I felt like the interior of the bus is a direct link to the Beatles house in Help, with the Tardis like interior sizing and the definition of the rooms based on each member. You also had the Beatles (or specifically Ringo) being stalked by someone who has weird ways of trying to connect to him, like grabbing him from a walking postal box or a vending machine (that was in Ringo's portion of the house). Throw in going to a different place just to do a weird music video type thing, and it definitely feels like Help.
I remember the Alien thing reminding me of the Life Of Brian.
All the cameos reminded me of the originally Casino Royale.
All of these have a very British sensibility and a general mad cap feeling to them.
The surprising thing about this episode of HDTGM is that they just seemed like they didn't get the joke most of all, which is different than saying the jokes where bad. This wasn't a movie like In the Name of the King, where they were trying to tell a story and if the plot has holes and just plain sucks that is something to point out. Pointing out all the problems with the lack of a plot in Spice World seems like point to Holy Grail and saying... How did the cops end up in Midevial Times at the end... that makes no sense, they didn't have cops back then!
That being said, I thought the episode was hilarious and Mantzoukas just keeps making these crazy Memezuokas worthy quotes week after week, I keep thinking eventually he will run out, but he never does.
