From cable access to the big leagues!

Rating: Null/10 (26 March 2007)

"Wayne's World," based on the Saturday Night Live skit of the same name, is the quintessential hilarious party movie. Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) and Garth Algar (Dana Carvey), in addition to narrating the movie, host their own cable access television show that they film in their basement. The plot, which never gets in the way of the multitude of jokes, thickens when a sleazy TV programming director named Benjamin Kane (Rob Lowe) offers Wayne and Garth a huge contract for Wayne's World to be taped on big-network TV. Problem is, Wayne and Garth are not aware until much later of various stipulations in this contract that ultimately hamper their show. Besides, the slick Benjamin becomes Wayne's rival for the affections of Cassandra (Tia Carrere), the electric bassist/lead singer for a rock band known as Crucial Taunt. (If you haven't yet seen this movie, please DO NOT read any further.)
Highlights: The original ending of this movie does not appeal to Wayne or Garth, so they provide their own "Scooby Doo" ending. On the opening Wayne's World show, Garth becomes a victim of the Suck Cut. Wayne, Garth, and their few cronies go cruising in their "mirthmobile" to the accompaniment of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"; later, they pull up next to a Rolls Royce and ask for some Grey Poupon. Garth takes a fantastic drum solo at a music store. Wayne's ex-girlfriend Stacy (Lara Flynn Boyle) rides past Wayne and Garth on her bicycle during their game of street hockey, but she doesn't pay attention to where she's going and rams into a parked car. When they arrive in Milwaukee, Wayne and Garth pose as Laverne and Shirley. As Benjamin discusses with Wayne and Garth the idea of giving their sponsor, video arcade owner Noah Vanderhoff (Brian Doyle-Murray), a weekly spot on their show, Wayne and Garth make abrupt segues into commercial advertising. When Wayne and Garth visit Alice Cooper backstage following his concert, Cooper unexpectedly gives them a history lesson. When Garth sees his "dream woman" (Donna Dixon) at the donut shop, Tchaikovsky's famous "Romeo and Juliet" Overture can be heard, after which the camera zooms in on Garth and bangs him on the head! As Wayne watches Cassandra perform with Crucial Taunt, he is smitten by her as "Dream Weaver" accompanies his bliss. Wayne humiliates Vanderhoff by writing some hilarious statements on the back of some index cards and showing them to the television audience. And finally, Wayne and Garth poke fun at the state of Delaware, where I am originally from.
"Wayne's World" was released in 1992, the year I graduated from high school. I didn't see the film when it was first released to the theaters, but I did obtain a copy of it on videotape that summer. At the end of the film, Garth declares, "I just hope you didn't think it sucked," and I certainly didn't. "Wayne's World" provides many great laughs throughout, and it is just as funny today as it was back in 1992.