Wayne's World is directed by Penelope Spheeris (The Decline of Western Civilization.) The film stars Mike Myers (Austin Powers), Dana Carvey (This Is Spinal Tap), Tia Carrere (Jury Duty), Rob Lowe (St. Elmo's Fire), Brian Doyle-Murray (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation), Ed O'Neill (Married With Children), and Donna Dixon. The film is based on the classic series of Saturday Night Live sketches of the same name, also starring Myers.Wayne Campbell (Myers) and Garth Elgar (Carvey) are hold-over would-be rockers from the eighties. Wayne still lives in his parents' basement, and hosts his public access television show, Wayne's World, from there a strange show that isn't afraid to poke fun at its guests. A television executive (Lowe) intends to acquire the rights to the show, so that he can exploi t it and make big bucks from the production. Along the way, Garth will pursue his dream woman (Dixon), Wayne will meet a rock star girlfriend (Carrere), and the twosome will hear plenty of bizarre theories and experiences from a psychotic donut shop owner (O'Neill.)
Wayne's World is a classic because it succeeds on so many levels. In addition to giving us interesting, funny characters, the movie throws comical scenes at us at lightning speed and they succeed more often than they fall flat. Additionally, the film manages to make fun of just about every angle of the movie industry without ever losing its heart. Despite some harsh language here and there, it manages to succeed as a film without being explicit. Yes, it's a little bit dated almost two decades later. But when so many catchphrases from one movie become part of everyday American culture, you know the film has succeeded and cemented its own place as a classic piece of cinema (even if it goes against everything I usually call classics.)
There aren't enough good things to say about this movie. There is no shortage of stuff that will make you laugh here. In just over an hour-and-a-half, the movie pokes fun at the entertainment industry, product placement, alternate endings, public access television, and other films and genres yet at the same time manages to tell an effective, comical story that, unlike so many other comedies, actually has a heart. Wayne's World may not have the impact it did during its initial release two decades ago, but there is no denying that this is a great little piece of cinema. You'll laugh until it hurts and then you'll laugh some more.
Image and Sound:
You'll laugh! You'll cry! You'll Hurl! And this time around, you'll be doing all three in 1080p and TrueHD! The transfer here is a bit underwhelming, but this was never really much of a "visual" movie. This transfer is a slight step up in detail from earlier DVD incarnations of the movie, but it's not a massive improvement over them. Where the disc really shines, though, is its TrueHD audio track, which really gets a chance to shine in loud scenes, and features improved clarity over earlier DVD counterparts. However, if you own the older DVD, there's really not much of a reason to upgrade. This is a good-looking and sounding disc, but it's not that much of an improvement over an upconverted DVD.
Special Features:
There are no new special features here, just stuff ported over from the previous DVD release. First up is a Penelope Spheeris commentary track. No fan of the movie will be disappointed in this commentary it goes into quite a bit of detail on the movie, and she has no shortage of info to share. Still, you'll wish Myers and Carvey had been on board. The other major feature is Extreme Close-Up, your standard obligatory "making of" featurette. Like the commentary, there's a lot of interesting information here, and fans won't want to pass it up. Closing out the features is the original theatrical trailer. All in all, these are nice little bonuses, I only wish they had included some new stuff here instead of just porting over (what few) bonus features were on the DVD.
Final Words:
It's Wayne's World! Wayne's World! It's party time! It's excellent! And it's on Blu-Ray at long last! The film is an undeniable classic, even if it breaks all the rules for what I usually call a classic. If you already own the old DVD, this isn't worth the double dip since the upconverted DVD comes close to the quality of this disc anyhow. But if you don't already own the movie, this disc is a good bet. Get out of your parents' basement, get in the Mirthmobile, and head down to the store and pick up this disc. No fan should be disappointed, though only die-hards (who surely already own the film) need apply for this double dip.
This is the best SNL movie ever and is filled with lots of memorable lines and scenes. This was filmed on a small budget but was a major sucess. There are plenty of famous people in small roles like Chris Farley, Laura Flynn Boyle, Alice Cooper and Ed O'neil to name a few.
The DVD is presented in widescreen and in DD 5.1 surround. It also contains a featurete filled with interviews and clips from the movie and the theatrical trailer.We all know that Austin Powers was a funny movie, but the way the press prattles on and on about it, you'd never know that there was life before Austin. Let me take you back to 1992 B.A.P (Before Austin Powers): Mike Myers takes a "Saturday Night Live" sketch to the big screen. The sketch was called "Wayne's World", and the movie version was greeted with major box office and critical praise (Excellent!). This movie kicks serious a--! The jokes are funny, even after you've seen it 50 times! The performaces are wonderful! The lines are classic! It's just such a great movie! It'll bring you up when you feel down! So, in conclusion, this movie sucks...NOT!
Read Best Reviews of Wayne's World (1992) Here
1992. "Saturday Night Live" was on fire with its current comedy lineup and one of the show's more popular sketch was "WAYNE'S WORLD" which featured Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) and Garth Algar (Dana Carvey), two rock n' roll fans who host a cable access show in Aurora, Illinois.The film featured an all-star cast with Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere, Lara Flynn Boyle, Robert Patrick, Alice Cooper, Ione Skye and a several more notable talent and was commercially successful as it made $121.5 million in the US and on various online polls, has been selected in their top 100 comedy films of all time.
Because of the film's tight schedule as both Mike Myers and Dana Carvey had to film during the summer vacation and then head back to New York City for rehearsals for "Saturday Night Live", Producer Lorn Michaels tapped producer and director Penelope Spheeris ("The Little Rascals", "The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years", "Dudes", etc.) who knew how to shoot an entire film in slightly over a month's time but most importantly, her background with working on music videos and the top rock bands.
"Wayne's World" is a hilarious film with many jokes, multiple endings and various film parodies and overall, trying to find out if both Wayne and Garth's relationship as friends can last and how they can take back their show.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
"WAYNE'S WORLD" is featured in 1080p High Definition and overall, it's an OK but not a vibrant looking transfer. At times it seems a bit soft but it definitely looks cleaner and better than the original DVD which I did comparisons with.
After watching "WAYNE'S WORLD 2' and seeing the disappointing picture quality of the sequel, I wasn't sure how the first film would turn out on Blu-ray. Fortunately, the picture quality of the original is much better than the sequel. Where the sequel had plenty or dust particles and the white speckles, there are very few on this transfer.
As for audio, "WAYNE'S WORLD" features a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack (as well as French 2.0 Dolby Surround and Spanish Mono).
The film is primarily dialogue but it happens to be a film also strong when it comes to the utilization of music. There is a lot of music being utilized throughout the film. And I can tell you that the audio is quite clear but if I had one disappointment, the soundtrack of the overall film is primarily front channel usage. In fact, I don't think I've even heard my subwoofer being utilized during the whole film. If any bass was coming out, it was coming out through my two fronts.
Even during certain sequences that would utilize low frequency sounds, no subwoofer usage. I did hear my rear surround at work a few times, especially during the airplane sequence but overall, the soundtrack is also OK. Was hoping for better directional usage of audio throughout the whole 5.1.
But overall, picture and audio quality were average at best.
As for subtitles, subtitles are presented in English, English SDH, Spanish and Portuguese.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
"Wayne's World" comes with the same features from the original DVD release. Primarily the one commentary and one featurette.
* Audio Commentary by Director Penelope SpheerisActually, a very cool commentary by Director Spheeris. She comes off as a rock n' roll, free and anything goes kind of director. Laughing and just having fun as she talks about working with the guys, making sure she was strict to the schedule but allowing various scenes that she wanted, what Mike and Dana wanted and then working with the best footage during post-production. A lot of behind-the-scenes information from how Mike Myers was initially against the headbanging scene for "Bohemian Rhapsody" because he felt it wasn't funny to why she was happy that Tia Carrere was cast for the role and how her rock n' roll and SNL experience helped her for this film. I also found it interesting as Spheeris talked about how Lorne Michaels promotes this competitive nature for the comedians on "Saturday Night Live" and thus, this film that did feature a lot of improvisation, was about the characters utilizing their surroundings and what they would do on the scene when the camera was on them.
* "Wayne's World Extreme Close-Up: Exclusive Cast & Crew Interviews" (23:14) This featurette features interviews with Director Penelope Spheeris, Producer Lorne Michaels and the cast of "WAYNE'S WORLD". You also get interesting tidbits of information about the screen testing of the film from the "Cream of Some Young Guy" scene, the headbanging scene and how Mike Myers neck hurt from reshooting that scene over and over, Dana Carvey forgetting the words to "Bohemian Rhapsody", the laughing scene of Wayne and Garth under the airplane, the friendship of Mike Myers and Rob Lowe began with this film, how Dana Carvey based Garth's way of talking from his brother and much more. (In Standard Definition)
* Theatrical Trailer (2:03) The original theatrical trailer in HD.
JUDGMENT CALL:
I absolutely enjoyed "WAYNE'S WORLD" when it came out on film. The way it was cut and the overall wackiness and improvised scenes, the parodying of other films and TV shows and of course, the multiple endings. Everything seemed to work perfectly.
Mike Myers and Dana Carvey do a great job with their characters. The guys were in their element and of course Mike Myers improvising especially the Wayne and Cassandra bedroom scene was hilarious! Both men did a great job in making the audience feel these characters and just laugh with them (or at them).
I also believe that part of the benefit of this film's success is due to Director Penelope Spheeris's extensive music and rock n' roll background. She knew what she wanted to capture on film, she knew she wanted the rock music to be integral to the film and even learning from the Director's commentary of how the talent didn't feel certain scenes would be funny, but she insisted for the talent to do what she instructed (unfortunately, it's been reported that because of this, she was not tapped to direct the sequel which was a shame). But you have to give Spheeris some major credit, to cut a film in 32-34 days is just unheard of these days and even at that time but because some of the cast and crew were used to the quick schedule workaround from their years at "Saturday Night Live", everything came together.
But there were so many memorable moments from the film that will always stand out, most importantly the "Bohemian Rhapsody" scene with the guys singing the QUEEN song which probably, many people not familiar with QUEEN may have never heard of until it was shown over and over on MTV. If anything, music played a major role for this film and it was fun watching how it was utilized.
As for the Blu-ray transfer, definitely much better than the sequel but picture and audio quality was average at best. Special features were quite slim and it would have been awesome to see some sort of gag reel or deleted scenes.
For those who own the DVD and wonder if it's worth double dipping and repurchasing it on Blu-ray, it's up to you. If the 1080p High Definition transfer is important to you. The audio quality is not exactly reference quality and for special features, there really is nothing added to the Blu-ray version of this release. So, in comparing both the DVD and the Blu-ray, it all comes down to if you want the film on High Definition.
From a sketch on `Saturday Night Live' and becoming a full-feature film, 16 years later, `Wayne's World' is definitely a unique, hilarious and crazy classic comedy film worth watching!
Want Wayne's World (1992) Discount?
The ultimate hang out and rock comedy, Wayne's World! This ia one of the really good SNL spinoffs that I personally was very glad that it hit the screen. Mike Myers (Wayne) and Dana Cravey (Garth), are hilarious in this and it shows that this sketch was easily one of the best on SNL ever!It's a non stop rib shattering comedy from start to finish! Myers and Carvey are totally awesome and let's face it, Tia Carrera is hot! PLus with a little bit of parody (T2) and making fund of themselves a little (the sponsor scene).
WAYNE'S WORLD is totally excellent and of course having a pretty good soundtrack doesn't hurt either. This is really funny. You'll be laughing the whole way though! Pick this up and also heck out WAYNE'S WORLD 2 nad from Myers, check out the AUSTIN POWERS series. Enough said, it's Austin Powers! And if you're looking for any other good SNL spinoffs, check out NIGHT AT THE ROXBURY, CONEHEADS and BLUES BROTHERS.
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