Wayne's World

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

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.

Penelope Spheeris (also of the Decline of Western Civilization Series and Suburbia) was chosen as the director of Mike Myers and Dana Carvey's SNL creation. This is the film that catapulted both comedians' careers into the stratosphere. 1992 is an interesting time in alternative rock history between the peak of grunge in 1991, and the coming crest of the "punk revival" in 1994 with Green Day, Offspring and Rancid. Wayne's World reveled in this new "alternative rock," music a concept which was at the time much more flexible than it is now. Rife with irony, alternative rock was eventually the name given to the music that blended aspects of rock, metal, punk, pop, and eclectic "weirdness." While Wayne is the more metal half of the excellent duo, Garth is the grunge/nerd/"punk" side of the equation.

Heavy metal rock and roll fandom provides the backdrop for a non-stop train wreck of social satire. Only in 1992; and only in Meyer's and Carvey's comedic genius could Aurora, Illinois ever seem so cool. Wayne's World, in the film's plot, is the name of a Cable Access television show (dare I say "DIY") hosted by Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar. Rob Lowe plays Benjamin, an advertising scout/producer who is looking for talent to promote a chain of video game arcade stores. He finds his muse in the low-brow witticism, promptly signs the boys, and sets them up in a proper television studio. A battle ensues between Ben and Wayne for the affection of one way-hot Cassandra (Tia Carrere) who is easily lured away from Wayne at the first flourish of Benjamin's bountiful extravagance. Wayne and Garth's plans to win back Cassandra culminate in the film's tripartite finale.

"...with an underlying revisionist's conceit that belied the film's emotional attachments to the subject matter..." the film was truly entertaining, whimsical, and relevant. And to reassure Garth; No, it did not suck.

As a middle-aged lover of world and art-house cinema, the lovably goofy Waynes World might seem an odd one for me to like and enjoy.

I've never owned it myself but as it's just been on Channel 4, I thought I'd see it once again, to see how it still fares. Though it's far from being my favourite movie of all time, it still hits the targets its designed to and manages to smell sweet when compared to the more recent torrent of comparative sewage that is hailed as gross-out 'comedy'.

Oddly, perhaps, it's impossible to dislike or find the two (Mike Myers and Dana Carvey) super-geeks annoying. The film is bright and breezy and rolls along like a continual Friday night out and the rock music references, including the famous Bohemian Rhapsody sung in their tiny car, always welcome.

The dream women in their lives are indeed good-looking girls and their portrayal are a fair balance between teenage male hormonal fantasy and real people with substance and character.

Considering Waynes World is supposed to be a Cult Movie, I'm surprised how few reviews there are here, on Amazon. Whether new audiences will ever warm to WW is a different matter altogether but for of us who's seen it come, go and now hang around, it still offers many pleasures.

One of the classica of my teenager years, Wayne's World was de facto included in all our all night movie marathons. Watching it with my son now, 30 years later, it still holds up as a funny and weird movie. Excellent!