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Wayne's World (film)

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Wayne's World
A view from above of two longer haired men against a cloudy background and globe at their feet
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPenelope Spheeris
Written by
Based onWayne's World
by Mike Myers
Produced byLorne Michaels
Starring
CinematographyTheo van de Sande
Edited byMalcolm Campbell
Music byJ. Peter Robinson
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • February 14, 1992 (1992-02-14) (United States)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[1]
Box office$183.1 million[1]

Wayne's World is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Penelope Spheeris. It was produced by Lorne Michaels and written by Mike Myers and Bonnie & Terry Turner. Based on the SNL sketch by Myers, it stars Myers in his feature film debut as Wayne Campbell and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar, a pair of rock and heavy metal fans who broadcast a public-access television show. It also features Tia Carrere, Rob Lowe, Lara Flynn Boyle, Brian Doyle-Murray, Chris Farley, Ed O'Neill, Ione Skye, Meat Loaf, Robert Patrick and Alice Cooper in supporting roles.

Wayne's World was released in the United States on February 14, 1992, by Paramount Pictures. A critical and commercial success, it was the tenth-highest-grossing film of 1992 and remains the highest-grossing film based on a Saturday Night Live sketch. A sequel, Wayne's World 2, was released the following year.

Plot

[edit]

In Aurora, Illinois, rock music fans Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar host a public-access television show, Wayne's World, from Wayne's parents' basement; a broadcast of Wayne's World catches the attention of television producer Benjamin Kane. While out cruising with friends in Garth's car, the Mirthmobile, Wayne stops to admire a 1964 Fender Stratocaster in a shop window. They later go to a nightclub, where they avoid Wayne's troubled ex-girlfriend Stacy while Wayne falls for Cassandra Wong, vocalist and bassist of the band Crucial Taunt, and impresses her with his Cantonese.

Benjamin meets with Wayne and Garth to purchase the rights to the show for $5,000 each, which Wayne uses to purchase the Stratocaster. Benjamin attempts to court Cassandra using his wealth and good looks, distracting Wayne and Garth with all-access tickets to an Alice Cooper concert in Milwaukee while offering to produce a music video for Crucial Taunt. At the show, Wayne and Garth make the acquaintance of a bodyguard to music producer Frankie Sharp, head of Sharp Records.

While filming the revamped Wayne's World under Benjamin's oversight, Wayne and Garth find adjusting to the professional studio environment challenging. Their contract obliges them to give a promotional interview to their sponsor, Noah Vanderhoff, who owns a franchise of amusement arcades. After Wayne ridicules Vanderhoff on the show, he is fired, leaving Garth to host the show on his own. This infuriates Garth and jeopardizes their friendship. Jealous of the attention Benjamin is giving Cassandra, Wayne attempts to prevent her from participating in the Crucial Taunt music video shoot, and she breaks up with him for his distrust.

Wayne and Garth reconcile and hatch a scheme to win Cassandra back by getting her a record deal. They plan to ensure that Frankie Sharp hears Crucial Taunt play. While Garth and their friends infiltrate a satellite station with the aid of Benjamin's assistant, Wayne goes to Cassandra's video shoot but embarrasses himself in an attempt to expose Benjamin's ulterior motive. Cassandra initially tells him to go home, but realizing Benjamin is up to no good, she changes her mind and leaves for Aurora with Wayne while he apologizes.

The Wayne's World crew hacks into Sharp's satellite television and broadcasts the Crucial Taunt performance from Wayne's basement, where Sharp and Benjamin converge. Sharp declines to offer Crucial Taunt a record contract. As a result, Cassandra breaks up with Wayne permanently. She and Benjamin depart to a tropical resort. Stacy reveals she is pregnant with Wayne's child. An electrical fire destroys Wayne's house and kills Garth.

Dissatisfied with this ending, Wayne and Garth turn to the film's audience and halt proceedings. They restart the scene and unmask Benjamin as "Old Man Withers" in a Scooby-Doo parody ending. Still unsatisfied, they restart again with a "mega happy ending," in which Cassandra successfully signs a record contract and rekindles her relationship with Wayne. Garth begins a relationship with a waitress he has fantasized over, while a reformed Benjamin learns that money and good looks do not necessarily bring happiness.

During the credits, both Wayne and Garth wait until the credits finish to fade to black.

Cast

[edit]
  • Mike Myers as Wayne Campbell, host of Wayne's World. Wayne lives with his parents in Aurora, Illinois, and spends his free time "partying" with his friends in and around the popular rock/metal scene of the early 1990s. His best friend is Garth Algar, with whom he hosts their late-night cable-access show broadcasting from the basement of Wayne's parents' house.
  • Dana Carvey as Garth Algar, Wayne's best friend and co-host. Garth is socially awkward and more stereotypically "nerdy" and introverted than his more outgoing friends. He has a crush on the girl who works at the donut shop that their group frequents, Stan Mikita's Donuts, but is unable to work up the nerve to talk to her.
  • Tia Carrere as Cassandra Wong, lead vocalist and bassist of the local rock band, Crucial Taunt. She and her band perform gigs around town, notably at a heavy metal bar frequented by Wayne and his friends called The Gasworks. Cassandra is a Cantonese immigrant who claims to have learned English at college and from the Police Academy films.
  • Rob Lowe as Benjamin Kane, a sleazy, Chicago-based television producer. His official title is Regional Programming Director for Oliver Communications. Benjamin is good-looking, well-educated, and highly successful, but cynical, manipulative, and ruthless in his approach to business.
  • Lara Flynn Boyle as Stacy, Wayne's troubled ex-girlfriend. Lacking self-esteem, she does not understand or accept that Wayne has broken up with her and still treats him like they are a couple.
  • Brian Doyle-Murray as Noah Vanderhoff, a video arcade magnate, and a prospective client of Benjamin's who is seeking to place him as the primary corporate sponsor of a television show aimed at teens and younger adults.
  • Colleen Camp as Mimi Vanderhoff, Noah's wife.
  • Kurt Fuller as Russell Finley, producer/director of many of the television shows executive produced by Benjamin. Russell has a reputation as a hit-maker, having won awards and acclaim for many of the programs he has produced. He is fiercely loyal to Benjamin, believing Benjamin to be his friend.
  • Chris Farley has a cameo as the well-informed security guard at an Alice Cooper concert taking place in Milwaukee.
  • Meat Loaf as Tiny, a doorman/bouncer at the Gasworks with whom Wayne and Garth are "in." He allows them to skip the line at the door, and informs them about the bands playing and if they are good or not.
  • Frank DiLeo as rock promoter Frankie 'Mr. Big' Sharp. The CEO of Sharp Records, Frank takes a very hands-on approach to his business, driving back and forth across the country to find new acts to sign to his label. He is afraid of flying, and thus takes his stretch limousine everywhere.
  • Ed O'Neill as Glen, the darkly disturbed manager at Stan Mikita's Donuts. According to Wayne, he works at the donut shop "24 hours a day". He makes frequent references to death, dying, and killing, and implies that he once murdered someone in the heat of passion.
  • Michael DeLuise as Alan, one of Wayne and Garth's crew.
  • Lee Tergesen as Terry, Wayne and Garth's head cameraman who has a penchant for openly expressing platonic love for his friends through hugging and repeatedly telling them, "I love you, man."
  • Dan Bell as Neil, Wayne and Garth's second cameraman.
  • Sean Gregory Sullivan as Phil, Wayne and Garth's friend who works at an auto repair shop. Wayne describes him as being frequently "partied out," a state of heavy intoxication which renders Phil near-catatonic and unable to recall events of the previous evening.
  • Mike Hagerty as Davey, a controller at the Cable 10 television station who Benjamin and Russell ask for help.
  • Frederick Coffin as Officer Koharski, an enthusiastic local beat cop who is kind to Wayne, Garth, and their group.
  • Donna Dixon as Garth's dream woman, who works at Stan Mikita's Donuts.
  • Ione Skye as Elyse, a seemingly casual girlfriend of Benjamin's who introduces him to Wayne's World.
  • Robin Ruzan as a waitress at Stan Mikita's.
  • Charles Noland as Ron Paxton, who tries to market his invention, the "Suck Kut," on Wayne and Garth's show.
  • Carmen Filpi as Old Man Withers. He runs a "haunted" amusement park.
  • Robert Patrick has a cameo as T-1000 (reprising his role from Terminator 2: Judgment Day). He is a police officer who pulls Wayne over while he is speeding on his way to Cassandra.
  • Alice Cooper with Pete Friesen, Derek Sherinian, Stef Burns,[2] and Jimmy DeGrasso as themselves, performing "Feed My Frankenstein". Wayne and Garth go to see him backstage at his show, where they receive a lecture on the history of Milwaukee.

Production

[edit]

Wayne's World was green-lit by Paramount Pictures in 1991. It was the second film based on a Saturday Night Live sketch, following The Blues Brothers in 1980.[3] Producer Lorne Michaels hired Penelope Spheeris to direct, after she had directed several music documentaries. Spheeris said, "I had been just struggling as a female director in this business for many years. I was 45 years old when I got that job. I just kept hanging in there. And Wayne's World happened, and it sort of flipped my life around."[4]

Spheeris clashed with Myers during filming. She told Entertainment Weekly that Myers was "emotionally needy and got more difficult as the shoot went along. You should have heard him bitching when I was trying to do that 'Bohemian Rhapsody' scene: 'I can't move my neck like that! Why do we have to do this so many times? No one is going to laugh at that!'" She said she attempted to assuage Myers by having her daughter provide him snacks, and on one occasion he stormed off the set, upset that there was no margarine for his bagel.[5] Myers and Spheeris argued over the final cut, causing Myers to prevent Spheeris from directing Wayne's World 2.[6][7] Despite this, in 2022 Spheeris said the conflict between her and Myers had been overstated, and that the margarine incident was the only time when she felt Myers was being outright unreasonable.[8]

Soundtrack

[edit]

Main article: Wayne's World: Music from the Motion Picture

The soundtrack album reached number one on the Billboard 200. The album was certified double-Platinum by the RIAA on July 16, 1997.[9]

The studio and Lorne Michaels originally wanted to use a Guns N' Roses song for the head banging scene, but Myers demanded "Bohemian Rhapsody", even threatening to quit the production unless it was used.[10][11] Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, died of bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS a few months before the film's release. According to Brian May, Mercury saw the head banging scene before his death, found it hilarious and approved the song for the film's use.[12] However, Spheeris disputed May's recollection in a 2022 interview, saying that "My guess is it's not true." She explained that due to the short timeframe between the completion of the film and Mercury's death, she believes it is highly unlikely that anyone would have had access to a tape of the scene to show Mercury.[13]

In the "No Stairway To Heaven" scene, the first four notes played of "Stairway to Heaven" were replaced with a different set of guitar notes in all home media releases of the film, since home video publishers considered the $100,000 cost of licensing the song to be too high though the original notes were restored with the 4K Blu-Ray release in 2022.[14]

Gary Wright re-recorded "Dream Weaver" for the film, which is heard whenever Wayne looks at Cassandra.[15]

Tia Carrere sang her own vocals on the songs she performed in the film, as well as cover songs such as Sweet's "The Ballroom Blitz", which were included on the film's soundtrack album.[16]

Myers originally wanted Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen" and "School's Out" in the film, but Cooper's manager Shep Gordon convinced him to use "Feed My Frankenstein" instead. It was Myers' first meeting with Gordon and it made such a strong, positive impression on him that they formed a friendship. Myers directed a 2014 documentary about Gordon, titled Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon.[10]

Release

[edit]

The film was a box office success, debuting at number one.[17][18] The film's final domestic gross was $121,697,323,[19] making it the eighth-highest-grossing film of 1992[20] and the highest-grossing of the 11 films based on Saturday Night Live skits.

Reception

[edit]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 96 reviews, with an average rating of 6.60/10, with the critical consensus stating, "An oddball comedy that revels in its silliness and memorable catch phrases, Wayne's World is also fondly regarded because of its endearing characters."[21] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on reviews from 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[22] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[23]

Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four and said in his review: "I walked into Wayne's World expecting a lot of dumb, vulgar comedy, and I got plenty, but I also found what I didn't expect: a genuinely amusing, sometimes even intelligent, undercurrent."[24] Gene Siskel called the film a "very funny and most original comedy" with "inspired bits of whimsy,"[25] and ranked it number eight on his list of the ten best movies of 1992.[26] Desson Howe wrote in The Washington Post that making a movie out of such a "teeny sketch" is "better than you'd expect", but criticized the finale as "an attempt to lampoon movie endings" "and a despair-driven inability to end the movie".[27] Filipino columnist Jullie Y. Daza of the Manila Standard stated that "I didn't know what the generation gap meant until I saw this silly, nonsensical movie called 'Wayne's World' and I saw how my son went stark raving mad over it."[28]

[edit]
Wayne's World AMC Pacer at Rusty's TV & Movie Car Museum in Jackson, Tennessee

Filled with pop culture references, the sketches and the film started catchphrases such as "Schwing!" and "Schyea", as well as popularizing "That's what she said", "Party on!", and the use of "... Not!" after an apparently affirmative sentence to state the contrary,[29] and "We’re not worthy! We're not worthy!"

The scene in which Wayne, Garth, and friends lip-sync to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in an AMC Pacer is one of the most well-known scenes in the film.[30] Due to its prominent appearance in Wayne's World, "Bohemian Rhapsody" reached #2 in the United States and reignited the band's popularity in the country.[31]

The Pacer was produced by American Motors Corporation (AMC) from 1975 to 1980.[32] The car was purposely a second-hand Pacer painted baby blue with flames on the sides and non-matching wheels, which Wayne and Garth dubbed "The Mirthmobile".[33][34] The original car from the film was sold and appeared in a 2015 episode of Pawn Stars.[35][36] The car was restored to running condition with the original movie props inside the car, but with a functional stereo system added. The Pacer was sold in 2016 for $37,400.[37] Because of "The Mirthmobile" role, the Pacer is arguably one of the two most famous AMC cars featured in film or TV, the other being "Dixie", the Jeep CJ-7 driven by Daisy Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard.[38]

Between The Lions, a puppet-based children's television series from 2000-2010, produced a short repeating segment called "Gawain's Word," featuring two jousting knights charging at each other, each touting a speech balloon with half of a word which then became their respective names, then demonstrating the word. Though the title of the segment clearly is a parody of the SNL skit, the two knights in the segment speak more characteristically like Bill and Ted from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure than Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World.[citation needed]

The cast, crew, and other related musical guests were part of Josh Gad's Reunited Apart web series' second season, first available in December 2020.[39]

Awards

[edit]

American Film Institute recognition:

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Wayne's World (1992)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 2016-02-11. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  2. ^ "History". Archived from the original on 2011-01-17. Retrieved 2012-11-03.
  3. ^ "Mike Myers couldn't drive during 'Wayne's World'". New York Post. 2017-02-02. Archived from the original on 2017-06-17. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  4. ^ Pirnia, Garin (2017-02-06). "How Wayne's World Made—and Broke—Its Director's Career". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 2017-07-06. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  5. ^ "Mike Myers: Man of Mystery". Entertainment Weekly. 2008-06-16. Archived from the original on 2017-05-05. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  6. ^ Kirby, Brandon (2013-04-24). "Mike Myers, Dana Carvey Set Aside 'Wayne's World' Feud at Academy Screening". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2015-07-10. Retrieved 2015-07-08. Carvey & Spheeris both notoriously fell out with Myers despite the 1992 film's huge success. Myers is said to have blocked Spheeris from directing the 1993 sequel because she'd ignored his edit suggestions on the original.
  7. ^ Ginsberg, Merle; Baum, Gary (2013-04-11). "How Mike Myers and Dana Carvey Resolved Their 'Wayne's World'-'Austin Powers' Feud". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2015-07-10. Retrieved 2015-07-08. Myers blocked Spheeris from directing the 1993 sequel because she'd ignored his edit suggestions on the original (her cut already had tested well). And Carvey felt Myers later stole his Dr. Evil impression for Austin Powers, which supposedly was based on Carvey's goof on Lorne Michaels.
  8. ^ "Penelope Spheeris Interview: Wayne's World". YouTube. Retrieved January 5, 2023. Event occurs at 12:11-14:33.
  9. ^ "Search results for Wayne's World". riaa.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  10. ^ a b "WTF Podcast with Mark Maron". WTF. 2014-07-28. Archived from the original on 2014-07-31. Retrieved 2014-07-31.
  11. ^ Jacobs, Matthew (September 3, 2014). "Mike Myers Almost Walked When 'Wayne's World' Wasn't Going To Use 'Bohemian Rhapsody'". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  12. ^ "Brian May: 'Wayne's World' "Bohemian Rhapsody" Scene Hit Close to Home". Guitar World. 2017-06-05. Archived from the original on 2019-10-08. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  13. ^ "Penelope Spheeris Interview: Wayne's World". YouTube. Retrieved January 5, 2023. Event occurs at 7:25-8:51.
  14. ^ "How the 'Stairway to Heaven' Joke in 'Wayne's World' Got Mangled". Loudwire. July 2020.
  15. ^ "The Five Most Culturally Significant Wayne's World Songs". LA Weekly. 23 April 2013. Archived from the original on December 3, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  16. ^ Strong, Martin Charles; Griffin, Brendon (2008). Lights, camera, sound tracks. Canongate. p. 396. ISBN 978-1-84767-003-8. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  17. ^ Fox, David J. (1992-03-03). "Weekend Box Office 'Wayne's World' Keeps Partyin' On". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2010-11-18.
  18. ^ Fox, David J. (1992-03-17). "Weekend Box Office 'Wayne's World' Gains in Fifth Week". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  19. ^ "Alphabetical Movie Index A-Z". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Archived from the original on 2011-03-02. Retrieved 2011-01-17.
  20. ^ "1992 Yearly Box Office Results – Box Office Mojo". Boxofficemojo.com. Archived from the original on 20 August 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  21. ^ "Wayne's World". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on November 27, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  22. ^ "Wayne's World Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on June 8, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  23. ^ "Cinemascore :: Movie Title Search". December 20, 2018. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  24. ^ Ebert, Roger (February 14, 1992). "Wayne's World Movie Review & Film Summary (1992)". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2017-03-29. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  25. ^ Siskel, Gene (February 14, 1992). "Original, Inspired Lunacy Inhabits Wayne's World". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  26. ^ "TOP TEN MOVIES: 1969–1998". Chicagotribune.com. 15 October 1999. Archived from the original on January 5, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  27. ^ Howe, Desson. "Wayne's World (PG-13)". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
  28. ^ Daza, Jullie Y. (September 12, 1992). "When one's better than two". Manila Standard. Kamahalan Publishing Corp. p. 11. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
  29. ^ "Schwing! Mike Myers & Dana Carvey's 'Wayne's World' Reunion Recap". FirstShowing.net. April 25, 2013. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  30. ^ Murray, Noel (2017-02-14). "10 Things You Didn't Know About "Wayne's World"". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2019-08-31. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  31. ^ Brown, Matthew (2012). Debussy Redux: The Impact of His Music on Popular Culture. Indiana University Press. p. 155. ISBN 9780253357168. Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  32. ^ Yates, Brock (September 1993). "Star Cars". Car and Driver. 39 (3): 119. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  33. ^ Long, Christian (2017). The Imaginary Geography of Hollywood Cinema 1960–2000. Intellect Books. ISBN 9781783208319. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  34. ^ "Wayne's World AMC Pacer for sale". money.cnn.com. December 16, 2004. Archived from the original on May 16, 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  35. ^ "Pawn Stars: Wayne's World Car – History". Youtube. 2015-10-23. Archived from the original on 2019-11-28. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  36. ^ Valdes-Dapena, Peter (2016-10-11). "The AMC Pacer from 'Wayne's World' is for sale". CNN. Archived from the original on 2018-07-02. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  37. ^ "Lot #608: 1976 AMC Pacer "Wayne's World"". Barrett-Jackson. October 2016. Archived from the original on 2019-10-31. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  38. ^ "Wayne's World – The Mirth Mobile – 1976 AMC Pacer". On Screen Cars. 2010-02-12. Archived from the original on 2019-07-09. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  39. ^ Walsh, Michael (December 7, 2020). "Josh Gad Reunited the WAYNE'S WORLD Cast". The Nerdist. Archived from the original on December 7, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  40. ^ "This is the American Film Institute's list of 500 movies nominated for the top 100 Funniest American Movies" (PDF). Afi.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-20. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  41. ^ a b "Ace Ventura: All-righty then!" (PDF). Afi.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  42. ^ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs" (PDF). Afi.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
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