Wayne's World (film)

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Wayne's World
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Penelope Spheeris
Produced by	Hawk Koch Lorne Michaels
Written by	Mike Myers Bonnie Turner Terry Turner
Starring	Mike Myers Dana Carvey Rob Lowe Tia Carrere
Music by	J. Peter Robinson
Cinematography	Theo van de Sande
Editing by	Malcolm Campbell
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	February 14, 1992
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20,000,000
Followed by	Wayne's World 2

Wayne's World is a 1992 comedy film starring Mike Myers as Wayne Campbell and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar, hosts of the Aurora, Illinois-based cable access television show Wayne's World. The film was adapted from a sketch of the same name on NBC's Saturday Night Live.

The film grossed US$121.6 million in its theatrical run, placing it as the eighth highest-grossing film of 1992 and the highest-grossing film ever based on a Saturday Night Live skit. It was directed by Penelope Spheeris, with Myers co-writing the script.

The film also featured Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere, Lara Flynn Boyle, Brian Doyle-Murray, Robert Patrick (spoofing his role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Ed O'Neill, Ione Skye, Meat Loaf, and Alice Cooper.

Wayne's World received mostly positive reviews upon release and was commercially successful (unlike many Saturday Night Live-based films). Filmed in just 34 days^[1], it was followed by Wayne's World 2. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Wayne's World the 41st greatest comedy film of all time.

[edit] Summary

Wayne Campbell (Myers) and Garth Algar (Carvey) are the hosts of Wayne's World, a local Friday late-night cable access program based in Aurora, Illinois, where they ogle pictures of beautiful celebrity women, play air guitar and drums, and interview local people, indirectly making fun of them over the course of the interview. The program is popular with local viewers. One day Benjamin Kane (Lowe), a television station executive, is visiting a girlfriend (Ione Skye) who turns the TV to the show. When she tells him how many people watch the show, he instructs his producer Russell Finley (Kurt Fuller) to find out where the show is taped, telling him they may have an opportunity for a huge sponsorship.

Benjamin shows up next week in Wayne's basement and introduces himself after the show ends. He offers to buy the rights to the show for $10,000 ($5,000 each) and to keep Wayne and Garth on for what he describes as a "huge" salary. Garth then covertly speaks to the audience, sensing he has a bad feeling Wayne is selling out, but he is too shy to confront Wayne about it. Following the purchase of the show, it is quickly "reinvented", complete with a weekly interview guaranteed to Noah Vanderhoff (Brian Doyle-Murray), the show's sponsor. The first reinvented show is also their last, as Wayne holds up a series of cards with phrases such as "Sphincter Boy" (pointing at Vanderhoff), "He blows goats...I have proof" and "This man has no penis", prompting Benjamin to call Wayne up to the control booth and fire him on the spot.

At the same time, Wayne's blossoming relationship with hard rock vocalist and bassist Cassandra (Tia Carrere) leads to a rift forming between Wayne and Garth. It erupts after Wayne walks out on the show, leaving Garth to a bout of stage fright for the rest of the show. The two separate, but later make up after Wayne breaks up with Cassandra following an argument between them over Benjamin.

Cassandra and her band, Crucial Taunt, perform on Wayne's World, which Wayne has put back on the air, with hopes that record company executive Frankie Sharp (Frank DiLeo in a cameo role) will see her performance.

Frankie Sharp and Benjamin steped into the basement and

• Frankie says to Cassandra that it's the wrong time, and an electrical fire starts from the broadcasting equipment. While Wayne walks out of the burned-down house with a dead Garth, Cassandra lies in paradise with Benjamin while he remarks "You didn't really think she'd end up with Wayne, did you?" (The Sad ending)
• Wayne pulls off Benjamin's face, revealing that he's actually Old Man Withers, who then remarks, true to Scooby-Doo form, "And I would have gotten away with it too,if it hadn't been for you snooping kids!" (The Scooby-Doo ending)
• Frankie gives Cassandra a six album record deal, and Russel Finley and one of Garth's friends who keeps saying "I love you" get together, while he announces how he discovered that "platonic love can exist between two grown men". (The Mega-Happy ending)

[edit] Cast

• Mike Myers as Wayne Campbell
• Dana Carvey as Garth Algar
• Tia Carrere as Cassandra Wong
• Rob Lowe as Benjamin Kane
• Lara Flynn Boyle as Stacy, Wayne's ex-girlfriend
• Michael DeLuise as Alan, one of Wayne and Garth's crew
• Lee Tergesen as Terry, Wayne and Garth's cameraman
• Brian Doyle-Murray as video arcade magnate Noah Vanderhoff
• Colleen Camp as his wife, Mrs. Vanderhoff
• Kurt Fuller as Russell Finley, Benjamin's assistant
• Chris Farley as the well-informed Security Guard at the back of Alice Cooper concert
• Frank DiLeo as rock promoter Frankie 'Mr. Big' Sharp
• Ed O'Neill as Glen, the manager at Stan Mikita's Donuts
• Mike Hagerty as Davy, Glen's customer who got laid off
• Frederick Coffin as Officer Koharski
• Donna Dixon as Garth's dream woman
• Ione Skye as Elyse, Benjamin's girlfriend, who introduces him to Wayne's World
• Robin Ruzan as a waitress.
• Charles Noland as Ron Paxton, who tries to market his invention, the "Suck-Kut", to Garth
• Carmen Filpi as Old Man Withers
• Robert Patrick as Bad Cop (Terminator T-1000 parody)
• Alice Cooper as himself
• Pete Friesen as himself, Alice Cooper's guitarist
• Derek Sherinian as himself, Alice Cooper's keyboard player
• Jimmy DeGrasso as himself, Alice Cooper's drummer

[edit] Effect on pop culture

Filled with pop culture references, the film started catchphrases such as "That's what she said", "Party on!", "Schwing!", and "Schyea". It augmented the slacker language of Generation X, much as Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure had done previously. It featured a baby blue 1970s AMC Pacer with flames and non-matching wheels, which Wayne and Garth dubbed the "Mirth Mobile".^[2]

The film frequently breaks the fourth wall, with Wayne, Garth, and others on occasion speaking directly to the audience. Parts of the story are carried by Wayne's narration to the camera, in which he offers his thoughts on what's happening in the film. Despite Wayne, Garth, Glenn, and Ben addressing the viewer, no one else seems aware that they are in a film.

[edit] Video games

In 1993, a Wayne's World video game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Mega Drive, and the Nintendo Game Boy. The game's plot differs from the film: the player controls Wayne as he goes on a mission throughout Aurora – visiting The Gas Works, Stan Mikita's, and the music store from the "No Stairway" scene, among other locations – to rescue Garth from inside the "Zoltar the Gelatinous Cube" arcade game mentioned in the film.

Alternatively, an adventure game version of Wayne's World was released around the same time for DOS. The plot involves Wayne and Garth trying to raise money to save their show by holding a "pizza-thon".

[edit] Music

• The use of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the film propelled the song to #2 in Billboard singles charts nearly 20 years after its first release. The soundtrack album reached number one in the Billboard album charts.

• Lil Wayne has referenced the movie often in his songs.

[edit] Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (July 2008)

• A Wayne's World theme park attraction was built and featured at the formerly-Paramount-owned theme parks Kings Dominion and Carowinds. The Wayne's World-themed roller coaster, Hurler, remains at both parks, but the Wayne's World section of Carowinds has been re-themed Thrill Zone, and the Wayne's World section of Kings Dominion has been merged into another area of the park known as The Grove.
• Scenes in downtown Aurora were actually shot in downtown Covina, California.
• In the opening scenes directly after they sing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen they pass by the known landmark on the corner of South Pulaski Avenue and 63rd street of a large Native American with glasses statue located over an optical store.
• Wayne and Garth's hangout, Stan Mikita's Donuts, is named after the former Chicago Blackhawks player. This is a reference to Tim Hortons, a doughnut shop chain named started by Tim Horton, a player from the Toronto Maple Leafs (Mike Myers' favorite team).
• The commercial for Noah's Arcade that opens the film contains footage of a prototype version of Sonic the Hedgehog playing in the background, though the game was released only on the Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive and never into arcades.
• The statue of cars on a large spike was named Spindle, and was located in Berwyn, Illinois. The spindle has since been torn down to make way for more retail space.
• Ed O'Neill reprises his role as a guest on Saturday Night Live as the disturbed man who speaks directly to the viewer. On Saturday Night Live, he played a shop teacher of Wayne and Garth's who is now an employee at the donut shop.
• Robert Patrick reprises his role as the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (he is credited as "Bad Cop" in the credits). He appears late in the film, pulling Wayne over on a police motorcycle. He shows Wayne a picture of John Connor and asks, "Have you seen this boy?" Wayne realizes who the cop is, screams, and drives off as the T-1000 walks after him (with the character's signature gait) for a few steps.
• Chris Farley makes his debut movie appearance as a security guard. In the next film, he plays Milton, a friend of Wayne and Garth.
• The Gasworks was a popular nightclub in the 1980s in Myers' home town, Toronto.

[edit] See also

• Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Wayne's World

• Wayne's World at the Internet Movie Database
• Wayne's World at Allmovie
• Wayne's World at Rotten Tomatoes