by David C. Terr

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Title: Wayne's World

Director: Penelope Spheeris

Starring: Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere

Release Date: Feb. 14, 1992

Running Time: 95 min

Genre: Comedy

 

Commentary
Wayne's World is a hilarious comedy movie based on the Saturday Night Live sketch of the same name with the same actors, Mike Myers and Dana Carvey. When the film was first released, I had my doubts that a 5-minute SNL sketch could be turned into a successful feature-length movie, but I was proved wrong. The movie is full of laughs. Mike and Dana deliver their usual brand of wit in this film, including their many adolescent expressions like "Not!", "Excellent!", "Party on!" and "Schwing!". Although the story is pretty ridiculus, the movie is pure fun.

Plot Summary
Wayne Campbell (Myers) and Garth Algar (Carvey) are a couple of teen friends from Aurora, IL with their own cable network TV show called "Wayne's World", broadcast every Friday night from Wayne's parents' basement. The young and handsome TV network executive Ben Oliver (Lowe) becomes interested in their show and offers to have them broadcast their show on his TV network in downtown Chicago. They take him up on the offer but get exploited in the process. Wayne falls for a beautiful Chinese rock singer named Cassandra Wong (Carrere), but Ben threatens to steal her away from Wayne. Eventually everything works out, at least in the "mega-happy ending".

Cultural Significance

• Wayne's World became the most popular movie based on a SNL sketch, beating out the 1980 comedy The Blues Brothers. It also spawned the successful sequel Wayne's World 2 in 1994.
• Many of the duo's expressions have become catchphrases, most notably "Not!", which is often used as a way to deny something.
• Queen's hit "Bohemian Rhapsody", which is featured in the movie, was re-released and became a big hit again in 1992.

Movie Clips

Here's the original trailer.

 

Here's a clip from the beginning of the film, including the classic "Bohemian Rhapsody" scene.

 

Here's the scene in which Wayne meets Cassandra.

 

Here's a scene with Wayne and Cassandra on the roof.

 

In this scene, Garth picks up a foxy blonde with his impersonation of Jimi Hendrix.

 

Garth does some minor damage to a car in this scene.

 

Here's a clip of Wayne and Garth having some fun in a music shop.

 

Here's a funny scene in which Wayne and Garth play street hockey.

Here's a funny scene of Wayne and Garth at the donut shop.

 

Here's the scene in which Wayne wins back Cassandra from Ben.

 

Here's the first (most depressing) of three alternate endings of the movie.