Wayne's World

I've always found Mike Myers to be something of an acquired taste and struggle to warm to his work. Wayne's World is the one exception, and surely the highlight of his career. The film is fairly novel in its design and has a lot of very witty moments. Dana Carvey is arguably the star of the show, playing the uniquely amusing Garth to perfection. Tia Carrere and Rob Lowe round out a pretty strong cast with decent, if slightly cheesy, performances.

I would agree that the film has aged a lot since its release, but it serves as a cultural reference point and will remain a very nostalgic and enjoyable viewing experience for people of a certain age. The subversive takes on mainstream films become a bit tiresome and the love triangle story is a little corny but this is not a film that needs analysing in great detail. A fun movie, with its own unique vibe and styling.

The cultural references of Wayne's World may date it a bit, but the nature and personality of its humor set it apart. There is a kind of naive benevolence and boundless joy which makes this movie so lovable. Its aimless plot and exaggerated humor are cute, without ever transcending that barrier into maudlin sentiment. This is a difficult mix to achieve, especially when so many comedians go out of their way to achieve "street credibility" through as much forced vulgarity and stereotypical humor as possible. Campbell and Carvey's characters were the ultimate comedic anti-heroes for generation X, even more so than Jay and Silent Bob, Bill and Ted, or Beavis and Butthead. They championed amateurism, paraded self-affecting humor, and became worshiped for telling everyone they weren't worthy. If '60s pop culture encouraged people to "do your own thing," Wayne and Garth were the genuine article in the '90s. Two complete geeks had fun acting as themselves, and became celebrated in the process. One of the true comedy classics of our time. 8.5/10

WAYNE'S WORLD is actually one of the best SNL-inspired comedies ever made. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey are way cool as Wayne and Garth. It's just shameful that the movie contains mostly wasted music...HYUH, RIGHT, if monkeys fly out of my butt. I think it the music here is excellent. Tia Carerre is hot as Wayne's love interest, and Rob Lowe does a fine job as the con artist who buys Wayne and Garth's show. Believe me, it's worthy.

4 out of 5

Ask most men within a decade of my age in either direction to list the 100 best movie scenes of all time, and the scene from "Wayne's World" where they sing/lip sync Bohemian Rhapsody in the car will be on more lists than not. It might even make every list. Not designed for the "critically acclaimed" snob set, Wayne's World, the film adaptation of the extremely popular Saturday Night Live skit by the same name, targets its audience perfectly and never even enters the water, let alone jumps any sharks. The movie is true to itself from start to finish.

The bedrock of the film, as well as the skit, is the unbending friendship of Wayne and Garth. Most children have one best friend who stands out above all others, and there's no mistaking that Wayne (SNL alum Mike Myers) and Garth (SNL alum Dana Carvey) have that type of friendship. The best friends host a cable access show in Aurora, Illinois, also sharing the skit's title. Other SNL alums, such as Brian Doyle-Murray (Noah) and Chris Farley (a concert security guard), round out the cast.

The plot centers around an opportunistic television producer named Benjamin Kane (Rob Lowe), who, with funding from an arcade owner, turns Wayne's World into a slickly produced national show, causing it to lose touch with its audience, and causing friction between Wayne and Garth, who feel they have sold out their fans and their roots. A love interest is tossed to Wayne in the form of Cassandra (Tia Carerre), in triangular form due to the attention paid to her by Kane as well as Wayne.

The pop-culture cuisinart responsible for most of the SNL skits was working in overdrive in this film, and that's a good thing. Everything from product placements, to gratuitous sex, to lame plot devices were lampooned. Rob Lowe was excellent as the sleazeball junior television executive, while cameos abound from the rock world, including Alice Cooper and Meat Loaf. Though not publicized as much as the other quotables from the movie, my personal favorite scene was when Wayne and Garth were each laying on parked cars, and Garth starts whistling the closing theme from Star Trek.

SNL-based movies have been hit-or-miss since their inception, but this was unquestionably a hit.

Wayne's World—which it's hard to believe is two decades old this year—still provides me with a good time, Mike Meyers' unique brand of surreal humour still managing to tickle my ribs, the music still causing my head to bang (only perhaps not quite as hard), and Tia Carrere still making me wanna go 'Schwing!' . I don't know how much of this enjoyment is down to nostalgia—I was a metal/heavy rock fan in my twenties when I first saw the film—but my kids seem to enjoy its random, scatter-shot craziness just as much as I do, despite not understanding many of the 90s cultural references (and, thankfully, some of the more 'adult' humour).

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for being able to whisk me back to a time when torn jeans, mullets and rock music ruled (I listen to BBC Radio 1 these days and I silently weep for the modern generation).