Wayne's World (1992)
The Cast
Mike Myers ... Wayne Campbell
Dana Carvey ... Garth Algar
Rob Lowe ... Benjamin Kane
Tia Carrere ... Cassandra
Brian Doyle-Murray ... Noah Vanderhoff
Lara Flynn Boyle ... Stacy
Kurt Fuller ... Russell Finley
Chris Farley ... Security Guard
Meat Loaf ... Tiny
Robert Patrick ... Bad Cop/T-1000
Ione Skye ... Elyse
Ed O'Neill ... Glen, Mikita's Manager
I think back in 1992 I was in Grade 8 and I didn't comb my hair, I just let it grow out until it was a mullet (even though I didn't know what that was at the time) and generally enjoyed my life greatly. On weekends I'd get to stay up late and watch Saturday Night Live (it was way cool back then) and one of my favourite recurring sketches at the time was Wayne's World. Everytime I saw that Aurora Cable 10 title card pop on the screen I'd get foolishly excited. I even had a Wayne's World hat. The next year my parents split up and my life slowly started going downhill. That's kind of unrelated, but I just thought it bore mentioning.
For some odd reason, that movie about a couple of metalheads with a cable access show made over $180 million box office gross worldwide. I'm not entirely sure what that equals if inflation is factored in, but that's some HUGE bank nowadays, let alone 15 years ago. Holy shit I'm old... ... moving on. At the time, much of the movie's humour was based on certain pop culture phenomenons and jokes that became funnier depending on how Canadian your sense of humour was. That's an intangible factor that I can't really explain, but I have to say that the setting of Wayne (Myers) and Garth's (Carvey) hometown as Aurora, Illinois feels far too south of the border.
As I said, this movie is 15 years old now *sob* so there's a lot of younger movie watchers who might know absolutely nothing about the characters or the premise of the movie. Shame on you. Anyways, Wayne and Garth host a cable access show that has a strong cult following in Aurora. Strong enough of a following to catch the eye of Benjamin Kane (Lowe), a deviously successful advertising exec that targets "Wayne's World" and it's delicious demographic for acquisition in order to secure the valuable Noah's Arcade account from owner Noah Vanderhoff (Doyle-Murray). Wayne also falls for the beautiful Cassandra (Carrere), the lead singer of a... well I guess it'd be kind of like a "hair metal" band, and she soon becomes targeted by Benjamin as well.
The movie features much of Myers' trademark winking and nudging of the audience by breaking the fourth wall. There's also a wealth of jokes that just don't age well. If I said "Little. Yellow. Different. Nuprin", some people might laugh and remember, while the rest of you would just be perhaps smiling politely. The movie still retains a lot of its original charm though, and I found myself enjoying it on a different level than I did back in the day. Most of that is due to my enjoyment of the bit part players and how well they do their jobs in this one. Kurt Fuller and Lara Flynn Boyle are both wonderful, but Ed O'Neill's handful of scenes never fail to make me laugh. I added half a point just for that kind of continued enjoyment.
Director Penelope Spheeris pretty much made a career out of directing TV-to-feature film movies, and her directorial style seems to just be bowing to every creative whim of Mike Myers. Which most times is fairly decently funny. For me, Wayne's World is timeless and a wonderful reminder of a far more innocent time of my life. Before I discovered girls and how evil they can be.
3.5 / 5