I've touched upon it briefly when typing up the "Wayne's World 2" review. I acknowledge that there are thousands of movies I could have easily picked as my favourite movie of all time. But much like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" this was a huge chunk of my childhood. Could it have something to do with the repeated viewings on BBC1 when the BBC made more of an effort to stick films on its main two channels outside of a holiday? Maybe. Could it have had a part in my emerging love of rock music, being the main reason I got into Queen at an early age and having their entire back catalogue by the age of 12? Absolutely.
There are so many great connotations and warm memories and for me, it's my ultimate comfort film. Without further hesitation, let's get into:
WAYNE'S WORLD (1992 dir Penelope Spheeris)
Why I bought it/Why I liked it:
To this date, "Wayne's World" alongside most episodes of 'The Simpsons' and "Clerks" remains one of the few films I can recite by heart. Does it have something to do with those repeated viewings? Sure, but I wouldn't have watched it so many times if I didn't love the hell out of this film.
I owned the soundtrack, first on cassette and then on CD, I would constantly bang my head during 'that' Brian May guitar solo on 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and try to get my friends to join in. I would wear black t-shirts and ill-advised baseball caps. This movie had struck a chord and still does. To this day when watching it, I'm whisked away to being a kid in the early '90s, sunny summer afternoons, rock music blasting, Amiga 500 on the go, visiting my friends to play their SNES's. Those were some of the happiest times of my life and this always acts as a trigger to those memories.
Who ultimately doesn't love a good comedy too? This along with a couple of others helped set the groundwork for my humour which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on some friends you ask. "Wayne's World" still remains funny to this day.
Mike Myers and Dana Carvey nail their characters and it's breaking of the forth wall is always fun and charming. As a film still finding its feet it relies far less on superstar cameos and more on established comedic character actors. Brian Doyle-Murray, Lara Flynn Boyle as Wayne's psycho ex-girlfriend Stacy and my previous gushing of Rob Lowe's Benjamin and Ed O'Neill's fantastic Glenn all deliver amazing performances here.
Penelope Spheeris' direction is awesome, having made two highly acclaimed documentaries on the rock culture surrounding the film, she was a perfect fit for this film, coupled with Myers' and Bonnie and Terry Turners script. The Turners would go on to create hits such as 'Third Rock From The Sun' and 'That 70s Show'. It's a shame Spheeris and Myers were like oil and water during production as the union here creates something truly special.
There's the soundtrack too, besides Queen who could forger Gary Wright's 'Dream Weaver' cues, Jimi Hendrix's 'Foxy Lady', the live performance of 'Feed My Frankenstein' by Alice Cooper and Tia Carrere's rocking version of 'Ballroom Blitz'. This is all solid gold stuff.
If I think it'll stay in the collection:
After a gushing intro like that, how could it not? I doubt I'll go for a pro wrestling 'swerve' and declare my hatred of it within 90 minutes, this inevitably will be nestled back into its rightful place alongside its sequel, ready for a rainy day or my birthday once again. Party On!
The review:
Watching this back, I think what sets this apart from its still entertaining sequel is the simplicity of the film. It's essentially a Cameron Crowe movie but being more self-aware.
Wayne's goals are simple, he wants a guitar, he wants more money in his pocket and ultimately he wants the girl. The thing is all three are obtainable goals too, much more so than say running a rocket concert as was the plot of the second film.
Both Wayne and Garth get equal screen time too, both get to talk to the camera, a fact that didn't really occur during the sequel as much. In fact, as stated Garth's subplot felt tacked on where here he shares almost equal billing. Was this due to the original plot of the sequel having to be scrapped and hurried rewrites or was Mike Myers buying into his own stardom at this point? Either way, the surprising turnaround (merely a year) between the release of this film and its sequel must've hurt it too. Maybe an extra year would've smoothed things out.
This is why "Wayne's World" feels like a more complete film. It actually has time to concentrate on the secondary characters at least giving them something to do. Poor Terry feels like he's there for just continuity in the sequel. There's more of a community aspect too, that the people around Wayne like him so much that they're willing to pitch in and help. It's a feel-good moment, of which there are many.
As mentioned Rob Lowe's Benjamin is terrifically slimy but his plot to steal the girl makes way more sense than Christopher Walken's Bobby suddenly being engaged and getting married to her in Act 3 of "Wayne's World 2". Hell, even Kurt Fuller's Russell has time to have a redemption character arc within the movie's short run time.
Most importantly though, it can still make me laugh after all this time. I have just as much fun knowing which gags are coming and how they're delivered in 2020 as I did back in 1992. If the then dying Freddie Mercury found the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' car scene to be hilarious then mileage can still be gotten out of this ol' gal for many years to come.
Should it stay or should it go?
As if you had any doubt. "Wayne's World" gets the perfect 10 out of 10 score here and thus endeth the overtly biased portion of our blog review...for now. I'll leave Wayne here to tell you what I still think of the film:
Next up, a string of action movies as we break away from comedy land for now.
So until next time, I remain,
Matt Major.
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