Wayne's World

I think I just missed out on the Wayne's World train. I have a lot of friends who love Wayne's World and really pull the nostalgia of this movie and see it as a comedic classic... And I don't quite understand it.

I also don't think I ever really understood the phenomena with SNL skits being turned into movies. If you know anything about what I thought of Night at the Roxbury, you'll know that I thought that that was complete garbage and this... well...

Wayne's World is based off of an SNL skit of two friends who do a public access TV show in their parents basement aptly titled, Wayne's World.

These two are Wayne Campbell (played by Mike Myers) and Garth Algar (played by Dana Carvey).

When a slimy TV executive (played by Rob Lowe) approaches them and in order to attach sponsors onto their show. Wayne and Garth have a chance to move from the local public access world to the big leagues. However, what else would Rob Lowe in the 90's do but screw over the dumb dork in order to make money?

I guess the moral of the story is... read your contracts so Rob Lowe doesn't screw you over?

Throughout the movie Wayne falls in love with a female rock star (played by Tia Carrere), while avoiding his crazy ex-girlfriend (played by Lara Flynn Boyle). i don't know, its kind of a mess.

I think the best word to describe Wayne's World is dated... incredibly dated. I think I now understand the problem that people have with pop culture references... because the movie doesn't have any lasting edge to it.

There's a lot of jokes, costumes, and just overall performances that I think would have been hilarious for young teenagers in the 90s and obviously the film was passed on to my generation who do know this movie pretty well (excluding me of course) but by this time, I can't imagine that this movie is going to relate to anybody outside of that small window because all the humor is humor that might have been funny in the 90s, but in my opinion doesn't really age well.

Performances are what you would expect from a 90s comedy, its SNL actors on screen just acting goofy. As far as story goes, the movie is pretty straight forward... until the last act. This of course is the cliche that there's a falling out, the heroes are at their lowest low, then they band together to beat the bad guys and get their happy ending. However, the ending to Wayne's World is honestly kind of a mess. I get what they're trying to do and its kinda funny how they have multiple endings, but honestly we were coming to the end and I just felt like something was missing. In the real world, it doesn't make any sense how this movie ends but I don't think the movie was going for realism.

I think the thing that sets this film apart is that from other comedies that came out in the 90s that were actually really good, was the fact that Mike Myer's and Dana Carvey were playing skit characters, not real characters. I was thinking about watching Tommy Boy to give a good example of a great 90s comedy in comparison with this film, but if I don't get to that, here's that comparison.

Sure Chris Farley is playing a character in Tommy Boy but where Tommy can be funny and yet still be a little bit relatable as a character, Wayne and Garth are just caricatures. I don't feel invested with them because its like watching the sketch for 90s minutes. I don't want to watch those SNL Wayne's World sketches for 90 minutes, I want to watch it for the five minutes that they originally intended it to be on SNL.

Also, Chris Farley just had a certain style of comedy that didn't have to rely on gimics from the 90s. The way Wayne and Garth talk in this movie is a hyperbole on the surfer douchebaggery that the 90s produced. Sure it was funny to use that gimic, but the more you make Wayne and Garth a caricature and not a character, the more I can't get invested and laugh when things are suppose to be funny. Whereas with Chris Farley, he's just down right funny. He doesn't need to be the product of an SNL sketch, his humor is just unique and makes me laugh every time I watch it. I mean check this out.

A lot of good actors came out of SNL and late night comedy sketch groups. Chris Farley was one of them, so was Jim Carrey, mainly because they had a unique quality about their comedy that is timeless. Unfortunately, while I think Mike Myers and Dana Carvey are funny guys, Wayne and Garth really don't feel timeless, they feel more like a time capsule from the 90s you just want to go away.

I did find it funny how Rob Lowe was basically the same character in this movie that he is in Tommy Boy.

Overall, I get why Wayne's World was popular... in the 90s. I get the quotable lines, I get that this was probably just a project that got greenlit by the same people who greenlit Night at the Roxbury in order for Mike Myers and Dana Carvey to have fun playing a fun role they had on SNL.

I get all of that. But looking at this movie in 2015, not fully familiar with Wayne and Garth, and not fully interested in all the references to the 90s and stuff like that, this movie is less than lukewarm for me. I had a couple moments that I laughed at but oddly enough it wasn't any of the moments that are highly quoted. It was moments that were genuinely funny and not an in joke or a pop culture reference that is no longer relevant.

I think we've reached a point where movie spinoffs on SNL characters have kind of died out. Can you imagine a movie spin-off on a character from today like Judice from the Lawrence Welk Show?

Oddly enough I wouldn't be surprised...

Keep in mind that this is my opinion, maybe I need to watch it with someone who is really familiar with the movie and the laughs will be contagious, but right now, I'm kind of of the opinion that Wayne's World is a little bit overrated and a little bit of a waste of time now. As always, Comedy is subjective and you may piss yourself laughing at this movie, for me, its like Spaceballs and not really my cup of tea.

But what do you think? This I want some public opinion. For those who absolutely love Wayne's World, what is it that makes this movie hilarious? Comment and discuss below! Or shoot me a Tweet with your answer @cmhaugen24 on Twitter and Follow me to get updates on movies and movie news. 

I'll leave you with this. As much as I give this movie shit for doing outdated references, it is kind of fun when they do something I do know, like when they sing Bohemian Rhapsody in his car... cause I've totally done that. Enjoy!