Wayne's World Double Post

Party time, Excellent!! WOOWOOWOO

"You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll hurl."

Good morning boys and girls. Today I'm going to do something a little different, but that is really not and is actually the same. Because that's what the game is all about, promising something new while delivering the same old bullshit as always! I decided over the weekend that I really wanted to watch Wayne's World, and then I realized afterwards that I also REALLY wanted to watch Wayne's World 2, so I did that also. I mostly wanted to write a review about Wayne's World 2, but I felt like that would be wrong, just focusing on the bizarre sequel and leaving out the movie that made it all possible. So I'm going to compromise and do a little bit about each film, and the ways that I liked them both. So let's start at the beginning! In the before times, long long ago, people watched Saturday Night Live, and Mike Myers was on it instead of being sentenced to play Shrek for literally the rest of his life (presumably this was some condition of the devil's bargain he made to become rich and famous). So Wayne's World was a recurring segment on SNL where Myers would play Wayne Campbell. a rocker guy who, along with his friend Garth Algar (Dana Carvey in maybe his all-time least hate-able roll) host a public access show where they basically do dumb stuff that is amusing in a public access kind of way, mostly talking about how much they like metal and hot babes, and tricking their local guests into saying gross and/or profane things. As a sketch featuring TWO SNL cast members who were going to hit the big screen (though obviously one a LOT harder than the other) it is not really surprising in retrospect that Wayne's World became a feature film. The basic premise of the movie is expanded on the sketch: Wayne and Garth do their show in Wayne's parents' basement, and attract the attention of a TV executive, Benjamin Kane (Rob Lowe, who decides he can make some money off of it and so sends one of his producers to try and figure out where the show is taped, so they do some sleazy contract signing, because 90s movies love to be about sleazy Hollywood guys. Wayne is on board, but Garth has doubts, but being the mumbly weirdo he is, he doesn't say anything about it. The two spend their new-found wealth the way you might expect, by going to rock concerts and buying expensive guitars and stuff.  It is at one such concert that Wayne meets Cassandra Wong (Tia Carrere) and starts spending a lot of time with her which causes DRAMA.

 

Sphincter boy says what?

So the movie's plot centers around Wayne and Garth working their stuff out and getting control of their show back, also there's romantic sub-plot, nothing unusual, the point isn't really the plot, that's just there as a vehicle for the humor. Over 20 years later and I have to say I still find this movie pretty damn funny in the juvenile way it was intended. In addition to being funny and also kind of meta (in the way it breaks the 4th wall and spoofs movie ending convention) Wayne's world also picked its topical movie references well (as I'd say many people would still get references to Terminator 2's T1000) and also is regarded as having brought the phrase "that's what she said" into popular usage in the 90s, where it has stayed forever (for better or worse). The scene where Wayne and his friends rock out to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in addition to being kind of iconic itself, was responsible for vaulting that song to #2 on the billboard charts, nearly 20 years after its release. At the time the song had fallen into obscurity (it only ever originally peaked at #9 in the US) but Wayne's World brought it back in a big way, and we're still hearing it on the radio today so... that's sorta a big deal I guess! Apparently Mike Myers was really insistent on the song's inclusion too, so that is sort of interesting. 

For public access this is actually kinda classy.

The original Wayne's World was a really big deal is what I'm trying to say. It was shot on a paltry 20 million dollar budget, but netted over 183 million during its theatrical run, which is insane, considering it is a 90 minute long comedy movie. It is really too bad that the sequel didn't do that, although there are arguments to be made for things like climate and competition (Wayne's World 2 was released into a much rougher situation). Wayne's World 2 was competing with Mrs. Doubtfire and Schindler's List so that's kinda harsh.

I AM just a poor boy!

Now let's talk about Wayne's World 2 though, as that was sort of my goal all along. Where the original had long lasting influence, I thought that there were aspects of the second that actually made it a funnier movie. Most of these have to do with really taking things over the top... even comparatively. Wayne's World 2 focuses on a dream Wayne has, where he is told by Jim Morrison to host a really huge rock concert, because it's his destiny. He tells Wayne this in a desert. Wayne is led to Morrison in the desert by a man only ever referred to as a "weird naked Indian" Wayne and Garth are assisted in their quest to put on the concert by Del Preston, a half-deranged former roadie who is prone to bouts of delusion and flashbacks (including an instance where he proposes installing machine guns on either sides of the stage). Of course there are other sub-plots including a sort of rehash of Wayne's ongoing difficulties with Cassandra, and hey the T-Rex from Jurassic Park also stops by. No really I'm serious.

He's a weird naked Indian.

While parts of the movie were less innovative and had been done already in Wayne's World the first, Wayne's World 2 has some of my favorite moments in either. Also if you're horrible and like Aerosmith they appear in the film. The film also, much like the original, offers three different endings, including one where they die in the desert! so there is always that I suppose. I feel like at this point both of these movies have kind of been forgotten for the most part, and I think they're funny enough to deserve the old rewatch. At the very least, watch the first movie, which is available to stream on Netflix, it's funny as hell and even Roger Ebert had to admit that Wayne and Garth are impossible to dislike, even if they're both juvenile losers.

That's it for today! Join me later in the week for... mystery? I leave you with this: