Wayne’s World 2 (1993) (Movie Review)

 

  I’m generally reserved when it comes to comedy sequels, as I feel it’s a rarity to capture the same fresh sense of hummer a second time around, and usually the jokes fall into repetition. However, the 1993 sequel “Wayne’s World 2” is one of those rare comedy sequels that I feel is just as great, if not funnier than the first. I usually see viewers write this film off as just a mediocre follow-up to a genera classic, but as far as I’m concerned, I’d honestly place “Wayne’s World 2” right along with my all-time favorite comedies just like the original “Wayne’s World”. As expected, this film dose repeat some tropes, but it has so many new things going for it, as well as memorable funny highlights, and one heck of an ensemble of supporting players. Once again like with the first movie, there’s no way I can review this film without highlighting most of my favorite jokes … so a spoiler warning is in order.  

  Set one year after the first film, Wayne and his buddy Garth are living their dreams of running their TV program, and Wayne’s love interest Cassandra is still front and center of his pursuits. 

However, despite the quality time he spends Backstage with his girlfriend, Wayne can’t help but feel he needs to push himself to do something monumental with his life. Fate takes a sudden turn one night when the spirit of Jim Morrison visits Wayne in a dream, and suggests that he put on a concert in his home town, putting Arora on the map. Despite having zero knowledge of organizing bands, and setting up a concert, Wayne still accepts the challenge, and decides to call the event “Waynestock”. Meanwhile, Cassandra’s shady record producer Bobby aims to steer her career toured LA, away from Wayne, and into his love boat. Further romances develop with Garth’s New Girl, and all the shenanigans that come with it. Thus, as Wayne tries to hold onto his girlfriend, as well as his best friend, and all the struggles that come with putting on a concert … it all escalates into his biggest adventure yet … with all kinds of goofy detours along the way.      

  Both Mike Myers and Dana Carvey naturally slip right back into their signature roles of Wayne and Garth, and are just as delightful and funny as ever. If characters like Beavis and Butthead are too cynical for your liking, Wayne and Garth provide a nice counter point, as their equally silly, but in an upbeat and friendly manner. 

Love interest Cassandra is once again played by Tia Carrere, and is just as lovely as ever. In fact, I think Wayne sums-up Cassandra’s appeal best with his famous line … “She’d give a dog a bone”. However, like I alluded to in the opening, our three mains are only half the strength of this film, as the other half goes to the ensemble of different players, each of whom contribute into breathing new life into this sequel. Wayne’s nasty rival Bobby is played by Christopher Walken, which by default makes him a better villain then from the previous movie. We also have a Weird Naked Dream Indian who appears to Wayne throughout the film. Ralph Brown also chews the scenery as Del Preston, a retired show-runner hired to help Wayne put on the consort. His introduction scene says it all, as he’s seen hanging upside-down, claiming it’ll add extra years to his life … and all while casually lighting a cigarette. His lines on paper aren’t that witty … but his dry way of delivering these remarks cracks me up … “I had to beat them to death with their own shoes”.

  Garth gets a female doubleganger called Betty Jo, who’s played by Olivia d'Abo. However, the girl who really has it out for Garth is a shady temptress called Honey Hornée, played by Kim Basinger. Seeing the timed Garth in his efforts to bond with the seductive Kim Basinger leads to some of the funniest interactions in the film, as it’s great to see such polar opposite personalities clash. Honey: “Listen, I’m going to be frank with you”. Garth: “Okay, can I still be Garth?” Michael A. Nickles is the spirt of Jim Morrison, and in a loving nod to “Field of Dreams”, he assures Wayne that “If he books the talents … they will come”. There’s also a number of cameos from Charlton Heston (more on him in a minuet), Jay Leno, Heather Locklear, Rip Taylor, the members of Aerosmith, and even Drew Barrymore gets a fun appearance as desk lady Bjergen Kjergen. Despite being a short appearance, Drew Barrymore is so likable, appealing and has great chemistry with Mike Myers, that for the briefest moment, she makes me forget that Tia Carrere is in this … and that’s no small feat. 

   At last, we also have a secondary antagonist in the form of Cassandra’s over barring father Jeff played by James Hong, and while not as iconic as his portrayal of Lopan from “Big Trouble in Little China”, or some of his animated roles, his portrayal of Cassandra’s dad is always one of the first to come to mind when I think of the actor. His overbearing protection of his doubter forces Wayne to fight for her hand, which leads into one of the films funniest highlights … a goofy martial arts fight between Wayne and Jeff. Every classic martial arts trope is lampooned in this battle, including the tense close-up’s, shirts getting ripped, the lead requesting dubbed voices over subtitles, and there’s just one great gag after the next. I love this one moment of Wayne twirling his sword, only to result in shredding his own pants, and there’s one specific gag involving two spheres landing on the floor, which has me howling with laughter every time I watch this.

  This brings me to the next big strength of this sequel, which again separates it from the first. While the original had an “anything goes” sense of hummer, it mainly stemmed from the forth-wall perspective of the two leads … this time around however, the world surrounding Wayne and Garth is just as much a live-action cartoon character, with details in the background, foreground, and there are no limits to what can happen on screen. 

One of my favorite jokes in the whole film is Wayne being put-off by the performance of a “bad actor”, and suggests that the stage hands replace him with a talented performer, which is when Charlton Heston steps in for his funny cameo. There’s a brilliant set-up with a bunch of extra’s walking back and forth on the street with sheets of glass, while others are just boxing food and chickens for no apparent reason, which Wayne and Garth find questionable. Then later during a climactic car chase, all the glass and boxes naturally get smashed, to which the lead worker says … “Well gentlemen, our job here is finished”. Much like “Airplane!”, the jokes hit a mile a minute, and there are so many little details that you might miss on your first viewing. When Wayne and Garth go crowd-surfing at a concert, you’ll notice in the background both a pizza delivery guy, and even a refrigerator surfing the crowd … why … why not? I also feel there’s just as many quotable lines and witty retorts, which have sense become staples of the series. There’s even more funny musical highlights, including a spontaneous dance set to the “W.M.C.A” song.   

  With that said, it was unavoidable that some popular jokes and hallmarks of the first film carry over into this sequel, but I feel they don’t distract too much. In fact, it’s a running joke that the other characters Wayne and Garth interact with are aware of the joke, and aren’t so gullible. Even this robotic head that takes orders for take-out-food is one step ahead of them, and the dumbfounded reactions from our leads is priceless. 

There’s also more popular movie and TV references, including another goofy side-quest set to the theme-music from “Mission Impossible”, and Wayne’s new apartment comes complete with the Bat-Poles from the 60’s “Batman” show. This sequel also repeats the gag of a popular action-movie villain approaching Wayne in the car, first it was the T-1000 from “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, and now it’s the T-Rex from “Jurassic Park”. There’s also a Lampoon of the ending to 1991’s “Thelma and Louise”, which is okay, but there’s not much to it then a straight on replication of it. The better spoof comes during the climax, which is a parody of “The Graduate”, as Wayne rushes off to rescue Cassandra from marrying the nasty Bobby. At first it looks like the film is simply replicating the famous shots, but then it goes that extra step further with an identical church across the street, and Wayne initially going to the wrong one … now that’s how you spoof a classic scene.              

  In the end, I know I’m a minority on this, but I find “Wayne’s World 2” to be a criminally underappreciated comedy sequel. The first “Wayne’s World” is generally one of my favorite movies, and while the sequel doesn’t quiet reach those same high marks, I still look back on it as one of my favorite comedies, and just like its predecessor, I find it just gets funnier every time I watch it. 

Being honest, most of my favorite jokes do come from the sequel. I’m sure it was challenging to capture that same charismatic charm and laughter a second time around, but this sequel sure gives it a damn good try. The characters are still just as endearing as ever, the plot is completely fresh, new, and like I said, it really delivers some funny new jokes and sequences that help it stand apart. While some things are recycled from the original, it still powers through with a fully realized cartoony environment, which succeeds in bringing more to the table. I’d say, if you a fan of the first film, make sure you have the second ready as a follow-up, as I feel it adds just as much charm and appeal to the franchise, and closed out this packaged deal of comedies on a high note!

Thanks for reading my review of the 1993 comedy sequel “Wayne’s World 2” … and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!

 

Wayne’s World (1992) (Movie Review)

   When it comes to my favorite comedies, they’ll either make me laugh, or just put me in a good mood with repeat viewings. The 1992 comedy classic “Wayne’s World” is one of those special cases in which I’m both laughing hard, but I’m just put in a very happy, and up-beat mood. As far as I’m concerned, what “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Gandhi” and “The Ten Commandments” stand for Epic movies … “Wayne’s World” stands for Comedies. It’s a film that simply embraces its own silly nature, and invites it’s target audience to just have a great time along with its goofy quirks and quotable lines.

During the very early 2000’s, I was going through my own personal transition of childhood to teenager, and it was the time when I was most obsessed with comedies. Needless to say, “Wayne’s World” was dynamite for me at the time, as I certainly enjoyed the film upon my first viewing, but as I got older I found myself understanding more of the hummer, and it just got funnier every time. While I’ve never been able to single out an all-time favorite comedy, I would say that “Wayne’s World” is one of those cases in which it goes one step above simply being a genera favorite, and has a special place among my own favorite movies. I should probably stop … catch my breath … and cover the basics of the movie before I keep praising all the details. One quick spoiler warning about those details, it’s impossible to review a comedy without highlighting some of my favorite jokes, I wont mention all the good ones, but special gags in the film will be highlighted.   

   Based on the Mike Myers “Saturday Night Live” sketch of the same name, Myers in his motion picture debut plays heavy metal fan Wayne Campbell, who along with his best friend Garth, played by his SNL co-star Dana Carvey, broadcast their own independent public-access TV show called Wayne’s World. Needless to say, their program attracts a big crowd, mainly from their fellow locals in Aurora. It also gets the attention of a crooked TV exec named Benjamin, played by Rob Lowe, who aims to exploit the program on his own cable Network. While Wayne and Garth are eager to make a professional carrier out of their little show, they soon discover the road to the big time is a hectic one, with all kinds of set-backs, and emotional hurdles to overcome. Before too long, the big stakes for Wayne go beyond the success of his program, and are more focused on whether he’ll win the affection of a local Rock N’ Roll goddess named Cassandra, before the nasty Benjamin takes her for himself. 

   Honestly, the plot revolving around the villain exploiting the show is not the strength of the film … the real strength of this movie comes from the characters, and the different funny ways we get to spend time with them on their simple, yet personal journey’s. At first glance, Wayne and Garth look like a pair of one-note goofballs, but they’re really more like children who never quiet grew-out of their childhood mindset, and that makes them more enduring than straightforward silly characters. 

There’s a reason the most famous scene of the whole movie is Wayne and friends singing Queens “Bohemian Rhapsody” in the car at the top of their lungs … because this is the moment that perfectly highlights what these characters are … their kids who treat every day like a fun night on the town … and that’s what makes them so infectious. Honestly, my favorite aspects of the film are simply spending little slices of quality time with these guys as they either play hockey in front of their house or when they pal around at an airport, with a plane landing over their heads, and they get a kick from the huge gusts of wind blowing their faces back. For me, the transition of funny characters into great characters is when your comedic leads feel like real people you could spend a day with … which is to say, in my younger years I always imagined myself paling around with these guys. Another tiny highlight of mine is this little randomly placed montage of Wayne and Garth goofing around in the big city, and it feels like it could have served as the intro of a sit-com.

   It’s just these little touches that give this movie so much personality, and fills me with cheer, along with all the funny highlights. It goes without saying that Wayne and Garth are two of my all-time favorite comedy leads, and they carry this film with ease. Outside of this movie, I find Mike Myers a perfectly decent talent, but more often then not, I just see Myers doing his usual shtick. However, that is thankfully not the case for his portrayal of Wayne Campbell, as I don’t see the actor at all … I just see this personality alive and in the flesh. Back in my early teen years, I so badly tried to replicate Wayne’s personality as my own … but soon realized I was better off just being me. Still, every time my friends and I played outside, I always shouted “Game On!”. As for Dana Carvey, I once again find that all of my real fondness for the talent comes from his personality of Garth, as I feel that’s his most well realized character portrayal.      

  The supporting players also have their strengths, which add to the appeal of the film … especially Wayne’s spunky love interest Cassandra, played by the always lovely Tia Carrere. Needless to say, Mike Myers reaction to his attractive co-star in the film kind of mired my own. She had it all … style, charisma, vocals, charm, fashion, fighting moves, and killer looks. It’s a terrific showcase of a female co-star standing head-and-shoulder with the larger-than-life comedic talents of our main leads. Over the years, I still loved seeing Tia Carrere in other movies like “True Lies”, or voice acting in Disney’s “Lilo and Stich”, although, I don’t think anything else quite matched that fiery spark she brought to the role of Cassandra. 

   Another important ingredient to this film is director Penelope Spheeris, who really knew how to personalize the overall vision and presentation of the film. While other comedies like “Airplane!” are set in a reality that behaves like a live-action cartoon, “Wayne’s World” is set in the real world, but still gets away with an anything goes personality, as all the events are mainly kept in the perspective of our quirky leads. Seeing this at a young age introduced me to cinematic ways a comedy can cleverly break the forth-wall, and have interactions past the boundaries of the camera. Wayne and Garth frequently talk to the audience, and openly state that they’re the only ones allowed to speak to the camera. When I first saw this movie, I was a little too young to understand the satire revolving around a montage of product placement, but over time, I gradually understood, and now I think it’s one of the funniest scenes of the whole film. Garth: “It’s like people do things because they get paid, and that’s just really sad.”     

   This movie also features one of my all-time favorite spontaneous movie references I’ve ever seen in a comedy. As we lead into the third act, Wayne is racing off to rescue his girlfriend, runs a red-light, and as a result, gets pulled over by a police officer. In a sudden, humorous twist, the cop turns out to be the evil T-1000 from “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, and played again by Robert Patrick. For me, the timing couldn’t have been better, as I was just coming off watching “T2” for my very first time, and was riding the high of having the T-1000 as one of my new favorite villains. As such, seeing him sporadically walk into “Wayne’s World” was one of the funniest movie references I’d ever experienced. In general, I usually find references to popular movies in comedies to be kind of cheap, but the way this moment was built-up and executed just works so well, even after “T2’s” popularity.

   Another brilliant satire revolves around the film’s multiple endings, and seeing the different funny ways the film could have turned out. Upon my first viewing, I was taken by surprise when we segued into the films initial “sad ending”, and I thought the movie was trolling me. The satirical “Scooby-Doo ending” is okay, but no-where close to the brilliant spontaneity of the previous Terminator reference. The actual ending is admittedly a little too abrupt for my liking, but at least the characters still made appearances during the credits, and hoping the audience didn’t think the movie sucked. Garth: “I can’t believe they faded to black while we were still talking.”  

   In the end, “Wayne’s World” is yet another great Comedy that just gets funnier every time I watch it, and never fails to just put me in a cheerful mind-set. I can’t act like it’s a film for everyone, but if you’re a general comedy fan, or a fan of satires with a rock N’ Roll backdrop … then this film is mandatory to check out. Its chalk full of memorable catch phrases, fun music, pop culture jokes, and the characters themselves are so enduring. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey have such great individual personalities, and they make for one of my all-time favorite comedic buddy teams. The rest of the cast do their jobs very well, and the story is perfectly simple, as it supports the films string of funny gags. As far as I’m concerned, this film still stands out with its own unique voice, presentation, and is all around one of the most perfectly constructed comedies I’ve ever seen. 

Thanks for reading my review of the 1992 comedy classic “Wayne’s World” … and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!