Wayne's World (film)

Wayne's World
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Penelope Spheeris
Produced by	Lorne Michaels
Screenplay by	Mike Myers Bonnie Turner Terry Turner
Based on	Wayne's World  by Mike Myers
Starring	Mike Myers Dana Carvey Rob Lowe Tia Carrere
Music by	J. Peter Robinson
Cinematography	Theo van de Sande
Edited by	Malcolm Campbell
Production company	NBC Films
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	February 14, 1992 (1992-02-14)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English Cantonese
Budget	$20 million
Box office	$183 million

Wayne's World is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Penelope Spheeris and starring Mike Myers as Wayne Campbell and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar, hosts of the Aurora, Illinois-based public-access television cable TV 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 tenth highest-grossing film of 1992 and the highest-grossing of the 11 films based on Saturday Night Live skits. It was filmed in 34 days.

Wayne's World was Myers' feature film debut. The film also featured Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere, Lara Flynn Boyle, Brian Doyle-Murray, Robert Patrick (spoofing his role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Chris Farley, Ed O'Neill, Ione Skye, Meat Loaf, and Alice Cooper. Wayne's World was released on February 14, 1992, and was a critical and commercial success. A sequel, Wayne's World 2, was released on December 10, 1993. In 1993, readers of Total Film magazine voted Wayne's World the 41st-greatest comedy film of all time.

Plot

In Aurora, Illinois, twenty-something rock and roll enthusiasts Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar host a cable access television show called Wayne's World, in which they lampoon eccentric locals and discuss topics of interest that include music and beautiful women; in spite of the show's low budget, it has proven quite popular in the Aurora area. One day, Benjamin Kane, a television producer, discovers Wayne's World while visiting his girlfriend; after learning of the show's popularity, he has his assistant Russell Finley track down where Wayne's World is taped.

Wayne and Garth are offered $10,000 from Benjamin to purchase the rights to their show. Garth talks to the audience and admits his doubts on the shady deal, but he is too shy to say anything to Wayne, and the pair accept the offer. Using their newfound wealth, Wayne and Garth attend a local night club, where they avoid Wayne's psychotic ex-girlfriend Stacy, who continually tries to get back together with him, and Wayne sees Cassandra Wong, the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Crucial Taunt, who are playing on stage. He instantly becomes smitten with her and the two hit it off. In order to impress Cassandra, Wayne learns to speak Cantonese and the two share a conversation as Stacy, still following him tries to make him jealous by being with another man, which ends up in disaster. He also purchases a guitar he had been eyeing for a long time.

Benjamin also becomes attracted to Cassandra, and uses his wealth and good looks to try to win her over. Using a pair of tickets to an Alice Cooper concert to get them out of the way, he offers Cassandra a role in a music video. At the concert, Wayne and Garth meet the bodyguard of Frankie Sharpe, producer of Sharpe Records, and gain information which they could possibly use later. The two of them are initially fazed when they go to their first recording of Wayne's World at a television studio, continually implanting the film's product endorsements as Benjamin talks to them. When the show starts, they are required to speak with their big sponsor Noah Vanderhoff, who owns a franchise of arcades, which true to form, Wayne violates Benjamin's rules by ridiculing Vanderhoff with a series of notes written on the back of his cards. Wayne is then called up to the booth and fired on the spot from his own show. Wayne leaves, and Garth, developing a case of stage fright freezes up on camera. Following that, Wayne and Garth get into a heated argument, causing a rift in their friendship. Wayne also becomes jealous of Benjamin moving in on Cassandra and tries to prevent her from participating in the music video. Furious at not trusting her, Cassandra breaks up with Wayne.

Wayne makes up with Garth, and has a plan to get Cassandra back by getting Frankie Sharpe to hear her play. While Garth and their friends, with Russell's aid, gain access to a satellite station, Wayne goes to Cassandra's video set, where he embarrasses himself by trying to uncover Benjamin's ulterior motives and failing. As he leaves, a snake Benjamin is holding crawls along her neck and she suddenly suspects the same thing, Wayne apologizes to her and the two of them make their way back to Aurora; slowing Benjamin down by using a police officer friend of Garth to perform a rectal search on him. Broadcasting from Wayne's house, Wayne's World successfully hacks into Sharpe's satellite television and he listens to Cassandra play. As her song comes to an end, Sharpe and Benjamin converge in Wayne's basement; unfortunately, Sharpe, while impressed by Cassandra is unable to sign her on, giving Benjamin a cruel satisfaction as Cassandra breaks up with Wayne again and leaves with Benjamin to a tropical resort. Meanwhile, Stacy admits she has been so moody because she is pregnant with Wayne's child, and a fire starts amongst the camera equipment and burns the house down while Wayne carries Garth from the inferno. Unsatisfied with the "bad ending" they reenact the scene again, only this time they unmask Benjamin as "Old Man Withers" in a Scooby Doo ending. They then reenact it again in a "Mega Happy Ending" where Cassandra is signed on to a record contract, Russell learns that "platonic love can exist between two grown men" and Benjamin discovers that "money, great hair, and a perfect body can get you far in America; almost to the top, but it can't get you everything." before they all break out in "fish face" and begin having fun.

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 crazy ex-girlfriend
• Michael DeLuise as Alan, one of Wayne and Garth's crew
• Lee Tergesen as Terry, Wayne and Garth's head cameraman
• Dan Bell as Neil, Wayne's and Garth's other crewman
• Sean Gregory Sullivan as Phil, Wayne and Garth's perpetually wasted friend who works at an auto repair shop
• Brian Doyle-Murray as Noah Vanderhoff, a video arcade magnate
• Colleen Camp as 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
• Meat Loaf as Tiny, a doorman at the Gasworks
• Frank DiLeo as rock promoter Frankie 'Mr. Big' Sharp
• Ed O'Neill as Glen, the manager at Stan Mikita's Donuts
• Mike Hagerty as Davey, a controller at the Cable 10 television station whom Benjamin and Russell ask for help, he later claims that he got laid off while at Stan Mikita's
• 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 at Stan Makita's
• 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 T-1000
• Alice Cooper with Pete Friesen, Derek Sherinian, Stef Burns, and Jimmy DeGrasso as themselves.

Production

Myers and Spheeris argued over the final cut of the film. Myers then blocked Spheeris from directing the 1993 sequel.

Reception

Wayne's World received mostly positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 85% "Certified Fresh" rating based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10, with the critical consensus stating, "An oddball comedy that revels in its silliness and memorable catchphrases, Wayne's World is also fondly regarded because of its endearing characters". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Awards

American Film Institute recognition:

• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • "Schwing!" - Nominated
  • "We're not worthy. We're not worthy." - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs:
  • Bohemian Rhapsody - Nominated

Box office

The movie was a box office success debuting at No.1. The film's final domestic gross was $121,697,323.

Effect on pop culture

Wayne's World AMC Pacer clone at Planet Hollywood in New York City

Filled with pop culture references, the sketches and 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 apparently affirmative sentences in order to state the contrary.

The film frequently breaks the fourth wall, with Wayne, Garth, and others on occasion speaking directly to the audience and even the cameraman. 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, Cassandra, Glen, and Ben addressing the viewer, no one else seems aware that they are in a film.

Video games

In 1993, Wayne's World video games were released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Mega Drive, and the Game Boy. The plot of the games differs from the film. In the Super NES and Mega Drive versions, the player controls Wayne as he goes on a mission throughout Aurora – visiting The Gas Works, Stan Mikita's, and Cassell's Music, the music store from the "No Stairway" scene, among other locations – to rescue Garth from inside the "Zantar 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".

In the beginning of the film, the Noah's Arcade commercial features Marble Zone and Starlight Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog playing behind Noah Vanderhoff, the owner of the Noah's Arcade franchise.

In addition, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned and Grand Theft Auto V feature a car based on the AMC Pacer named "Rhapsody" in reference to the famed scene from the film. In The Lost and Damned, if the player zooms in on the dashboard with the sniper rifle, they can see a pixelated photograph resembling Wayne and Garth.

Music

Main article: Wayne's World (soundtrack)

• 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. The studio wanted to use a Guns N' Roses track for the scene but Myers fought extremely hard to feature the Queen song, even threatening to quit the production unless it got in. Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, died of bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS a few months before the film's release.

• Gary Wright re-recorded "Dream Weaver" for this film and it was used whenever Wayne looked at Cassandra.

• Tia Carrere sang all her own vocals on songs she performed in the film, and her cover version of songs, such as Sweet's "The Ballroom Blitz", were included in the film's original soundtrack recording.

• 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 positive impression on him that they formed a friendship and Myers eventually directed a documentary about him in 2014 called Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon.

See also

• Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches
• List of Saturday Night Live feature films

External links

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