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Wayne's World
review by Zach B.
Rated PG-13
Studio: Paramount
Running Time: 94 minutes
Starring Mike Meyers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere and Rob
Lowe
Written by Mike Meyers and Bonnie Turner & Terry
Turner
Based on the characters created by Mike Meyers
Directed by Penelope Spheeris
Retail Price: $24.99
Features: Audio Commentary with Director Penelope
Spheeris, Cast & Crew Interviews, Theatrical Trailer
Specs: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, Dolby Digital
English 5.1, English Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround,
English Closed Captions, English Subtitles, Chapter Search
(23 Chapters)
Released: July 10th, 2001
Also part of Wayne's World 1 & 2: The Complete Epic
"Where did you learn English?"
"College... and the 'Police Academy'
movies."
As history (or film history for that matter) has shown
us, it's always hard to take a short five minute sketch and
put into an hour and a half movie. Well over ninety percent
of those films come from the show "Saturday Night Live".
Unfortuantley, a lot of them are pretty terrible... but
"Wayne's World", the first Saturday Night Live film (I think
- if you don't count "The Blues Brothers") is the sole
exception.
"Wayne's World" is an epic like no other that follows
Wayne Campbell (Mike Meyers) and his best friend Garth Algar
(Dana Carvey) who, as most of you probably know from
watching SNL, host the cable-access show "Wayne's World".
However, when a big TV executive named Benjamin Oliver (Rob
Lowe) buys the show out to please a client, a guy who owns a
video arcade franchise (Brian Doyle Murrary), and makes
"Wayne's World" a whole professional deal, a lot of things
change for the two. Still, it all creates a whole bunch of
wackiness and zaniness that is pretty predictible but really
fun.
I'm a sucker for a movie like "Wayne's World", I can just
instantly get into it and still have watching it despite the
several times I've seen the movie. The film works perfectly
though and sets out what it does to accomplish: it
entertains while keeping the feel of the actual sketch. The
characters are likeable, it packs plenty of laughs and puts
things in interesting scenarios.
The film also works in a number of other ways. I liked
how it set things up for people who have never seen the skit
before, and how it makes a jump in settings. The actual skit
was usually confined to Wayne's basement, the movie takes
them out of there and on to many more locations. Wayne and
Garth also talk directly to the camera, which, believe it or
not, helps the film. They realize it's a movie which makes
it all the more entetaining.
Meyers, who knows his characters best, co-wrote the
script with Bonnie and Terry Turner. A movie like this could
be hit and miss as far as jokes, but thankfully all the
jokes (at least I think so) make their mark perfectly. This
is a movie where you'll laugh a lot and that the jokes don't
get too old. It's been nearly ten years since the movie came
out, and I think a lot of the stuff holds up really well.
Spheeris does well directing the film and gives it a
good, lighthearted edge. Once again, I think the film stands
out against all the other SNL films. If you like a good
comedy, "Wayne's World" can't be beat.
Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, "Wayne's
World" looks fantastic. Colors are well saturated, black
levels are pretty solid and contrast is excellent. Detail is
quite good and there's a great sharpness to the picture
making it look like a first run movie out there currently
that just got on to DVD. Complaints are minimal: Some
blemishes and shimmering here and there, but never
distracting. It may not seem like near-reference quality
video, especially for a film that was shot on a low budget,
but "Wayne's World" gets so many things right.
Paramount has created a new 5.1 mix for "Wayne's World",
and the result is surprisingly good. This movie does feature
it's share of surrounds, but I found the rear speakers most
active during the music and concert scenes. I found myself
actually feeling like I was at the Alice Cooper concert in
the movie. .1 LFE is pretty good, and dialogue is crisp and
clear with no distortion or anything to overpower it. An
English Dolby Surround mix and a French Dolby Surround mix
is also included, plus English closed captions and English
subtitles.
Thankfully, "Wayne's World" is not a bare bones release
and features a good amount of supplements on the making of
the film. A Audio Commentary with Director Penelope
Spheeris is included, and it's quite entertaining. This
isn't a technical commentary at all, but still pretty
entertaining if I say so myself. Spheeris talks about the
choices she made as a director (and I really saw what she
was going for), how she knows Lorne Michaels and stuff about
the shoot. She's pretty jolly and offers a good deal of
information, so fans of the film will want to listen to
this.
Extreme Close-Up is twenty-three minutes of cast
and crew interviews and some clips from the film. The full
frame featurette has interviews with Lorne Michaels, Carvey,
Meyers, Carrare, Rob Lowe and Spheeris. This isn't fluffy at
all but rather their thoughts about the film. Meyers talks
about how he created Wayne, Dana Carvey talks about
developing Garth while Spheeris talks about getting the
film. Carrare thanks Meyers for creating the character and
starting her career, Lowe about making the film and Lorne
Michaels on creating the film. It's really well done and I
was glad to see that this was not promotional.
Finally, the Theatrical Trailer is anamorphic
widescreen and two channel sound. On another note, the menus
are terrific. They act like one of those cable television
guide channel. From there you can play the film, access the
special features and set things up, but there are also some
clips from Paramount stuff that make it all the more
entertaining. Incredibly creative and I was glad to see them
here.
"Wayne's World" is a highly original and funny film that
anyone with a sense of humor should enjoy. You don't even
have to have basic knowledge of the sketch to understand the
movie, but then again, I'm sure a lot of you out there are
familiar with it. Paramount has included a great transfer, a
nice new 5.1 mix and some cool features all for a price five
dollars lower than usual. Party on DVD fans!
 (4.5/5 - NOT included in
final score)
(4.5/5)
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 (2/5)
(4/5,
NOT an average)
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