Waynes World 2

Plot

Rock-and-roll fans Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar now host their public-access television television show, Wayne's World, from an abandoned factory in Aurora, Illinois. After an Aerosmith concert, Wayne has a dream in which he meets Jim Morrison and a "weird naked Indian" in a desert. Morrison convinces Wayne that his destiny is to organize a major music festival. Wayne and Garth dub the concert "Waynestock" and hire Morrison's former roadie, Del Preston. Their early attempts to sign bands and sell tickets fail, and Wayne wonders if the endeavor is futile.

Wayne's girlfriend Cassandra, singer of the band Crucial Taunt, has a new producer, Bobby Cahn, who tries to pull her away from Wayne and Illinois. After Wayne admits spying on her due to his suspicion of Bobby's ulterior motives, Cassandra breaks up with him and becomes engaged to Bobby. Garth meets a beautiful woman, Honey Hornée, who attempts to manipulate Garth into killing her ex-husband, but Garth ends the relationship.

Tickets are sold for Waynestock but no bands arrive. Leaving Garth to keep the rowdy crowd in check, Wayne disrupts Cassandra's wedding before escaping the ceremony with her. Meanwhile, Garth has stage fright during the concert. Wayne returns to find the bands have still not arrived.

In the dream desert, Wayne and Garth consult Morrison, who says that the bands will not come and that all that matters is they tried. They become lost in the desert. Finding this unacceptable, Wayne and Garth reenact the ending of Thelma & Louise, driving their car off a cliff while trying to find the bands. Finally, Wayne and Garth stage an ending in which the bands arrive and Waynestock is a success.

After the concert, the park is covered with trash and the "weird naked Indian" cries. Wayne and Garth begin to remove the litter, promising to clean the entire park.

Cast

Production

Penelope Spheeris, who directed the first film believes that Myers encouraged the studio not to have her back for the sequel due to personality conflicts with Myers during the making of the first film. She went on to direct another TV to big screen adaptation, The Beverly Hillbillies instead and was replaced by Stephen Surjik for the sequel.

Myers' original script for Wayne's World 2 had Wayne and Garth forming their own country and seceding from the US after finding an ancient scroll, in a story taken from the 1949 British comedy Passport to Pimlico. This version was well into pre-production before it came to light that the studio had no idea the script was based on a previous film and thus had not obtained the rights to Passport to Pimlico. Production was immediately halted--director Surjik said: “I could hear the chainsaws literally chopping the sets down.”

Studio executive Sherry Lansing was reportedly furious with Myers and threatened to ruin his life and career if he didn't immediately produce a new script.

Reception

Wayne's World 2 received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 60% "Fresh" rating, based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10, with the site's critical consensus reading, "The characters are still endearing, but the jokes in Wayne's World 2 are more hit-and-miss the second time around".

Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, and wrote that Wayne and Garth are "impossible to dislike".

Box office

Although it was intended to be a Christmas season blockbuster, Wayne's World 2 was only moderately successful and did not receive the box office intake or positive fan reaction that the first film did. Its final North American gross was $48 million, slightly more than its $40 million production budget, but much less than the original film's gross of over $100 million. Wayne's World 2 also suffered from competition from other holiday season blockbusters such as Mrs. Doubtfire, Schindler's List, and The Pelican Brief.