Waynes World (film)

Plot

In Aurora, Illinois, rock and roll fans Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar host a public-access television show, Wayne's World, from Wayne's parents' basement. Learning that the show is popular in the Aurora area, television producer Benjamin Oliver offers to buy the rights to it for $10,000. Garth has doubts about the deal but is too shy to say anything to Wayne so the pair accept the offer.

Wayne and Garth attend a local night club, where they avoid Wayne's troubled ex-girlfriend Stacy. Wayne falls for Cassandra Wong, vocalist and bassist of the band Crucial Taunt, playing at the club that night. He later impresses her with his Cantonese and purchases an expensive guitar he has long coveted.

Benjamin attempts to steal Cassandra from Wayne by exploiting his wealth and good looks. He distracts Wayne and Garth with all-access tickets to an Alice Cooper concert in Milwaukee, while offering to produce a music video for Cassandra's band. At the concert, Wayne and Garth make the acquaintance of a bodyguard to music producer Frankie Sharp, the head of Sharp Records.

While filming Wayne's World under Benjamin's oversight, Wayne and Garth find it difficult to adjust to the new professional studio environment. Their contract obliges them to give a promotional interview to their sponsor Noah Vanderhoff, who owns a franchise of amusement arcades. Wayne ridicules Vanderhoff with insults written on the back of his question cards and is fired from the show as result. This causes a rift in his friendship with Garth. Jealous of Benjamin, Wayne attempts to prevent Cassandra from participating in the music video shoot. She breaks up with him, furious at his lack of trust.

Wayne and Garth reunite and hatch a plan to win Cassandra back by having Frankie Sharp hear Crucial Taunt play. While Garth and their friends infiltrate a satellite station with the aid of Benjamin's assistant Russell, Wayne goes to Cassandra's video shoot. In a failed attempt to uncover Benjamin's ulterior motives Wayne embarrasses himself. As he leaves, Cassandra changes her mind about Benjamin. Wayne apologizes and they return to Aurora. They delay Benjamin's pursuit by having Garth's police officer friend perform a rectal body cavity search on him.

Broadcasting from Wayne's basement, Wayne's World hacks into Sharp's satellite television to broadcast Cassandra's performance. As her performance ends, Sharp and Benjamin converge on Wayne's basement. Sharp decides not to offer Crucial Taunt a record contract. Cassandra breaks up with Wayne and departs with Benjamin for a tropical resort. Stacy confesses that she is carrying Wayne's child, and a fire destroys Wayne's house.

The dissatisfied Wayne and Garth reenact the scene in an alternative ending, unmasking Benjamin as "Old Man Withers" in a "Scooby-Doo ending". They reenact it again in a "mega happy ending" in which Cassandra signs a record contract, reunites with Wayne, and Russell learns that "platonic love can exist between two grown men". Garth begins a relationship with a waitress from the local diner, and Benjamin learns that money and good looks do not bring happiness.

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, when he offers a running commentary on what's happening in the film. Wayne, Garth, Cassandra, Glen, and Ben each address the viewer at times, with some assumed dramatic irony as no one is aware that they are in a film.

Cast

Production

In 1991, a film adaptation of Wayne’s World was greenlit by Paramount Pictures, only the second movie based upon a Saturday Night Live sketch following The Blues Brothers in 1980. Penelope Spheeris was hired to direct by Lorne Michaels. Spheeris had previously directed several music documentaries. “It was a lucky shot, I’ll tell you," 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.”

Spheeris clashed with Myers during filming. According to Spheeris, on one occasion, Myers stormed off the set, upset that there was "no margarine for his bagel, only butter." She told Entertainment Weekly that he 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!'” Spheeris attempted to assuage Myers by having her daughter provide him snacks. Myers and Spheeris argued over the final cut of the film, causing Myers to prevent Spheeris from directing the 1993 sequel.

Box office

The movie was a box office success debuting at No.1. The film's final domestic gross was $121,697,323., making it the eighth highest-grossing film of 1992 and the highest-grossing of the 11 films based on Saturday Night Live skits.

Critical response

Wayne's World received mostly positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 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". Roger Ebert 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." However, 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".

In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Wayne's World the 41st-greatest comedy film of all time.

Effect on pop culture

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 apparently affirmative sentences in order to state the contrary. The "not" joke's popularity saw a resurgence after its use in the 2006 mockumentary film Borat. Then in 2010, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of Near East Affairs used a "not" joke in a classified email chain about Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar that was later released by Wikileaks.

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 video game, if the player zooms in on the dashboard with the sniper rifle, they can see a pixelated photograph resembling Wayne and Garth.

Awards

American Film Institute recognition:

Video games

In 1993, Wayne's World video games were released for the NES, Super NES, the Sega Genesis, and the Game Boy, but the plot of the games differs from that of 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, and other locations to rescue Garth from inside the "Zantar the Gelatinous Cube" arcade game mentioned in the film.

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