#272: Wayne’s World

Release Date: February 14th, 1992

Format: Streaming (Tubi)

Written by: Mike Myers, Bonnie Turner, and Terry Turner

Directed by: Penelope Spheeris

3 Stars

Considering the number of movie stars that Saturday Night Live has produced, I was surprised to learn that Wayne’s World (1992) was just the second Lorne Michaels-produced feature film based on an SNL sketch. The first was The Blues Brothers more than a decade earlier.

The two films share certain sensibilities: They’re both buddy comedies with young, male protagonists who are obsessed with music, who wear iconic outfits, who are chased by a crazy ex-girlfriend, and who chase big dreams that seemingly contradict their slacker sensibilities.

Most importantly, though, the films have a lot of fun in their storytelling. In the case of Wayne’s World, there are extended musical interludes, meta jokes, satire, and lots of breaking the fourth wall. 

I hadn’t seen the movie in many years. Most of the gags still work, some are past their expiration date, but what endures is the film’s ambitious spirit. The script, co-written by star Mike Myers, embraces a sense of gently chaotic, snarky Gen-X fun. Even if you don’t laugh at a gag, it will most likely get a smile out of you.

Life imitated art after Wayne’s World’s release, when Myers and Dana Carvey were shot into stardom, much like their characters Wayne and Garth. The filmwent on to make $183 million against its $20 million budget, and it opened the floodgates for a portfolio of pretty bad SNL films for the next decade (Coneheads (1993), It’s Pat! (1994), Stuart Saves His Family (1995), A Night at the Roxbury (1998), Superstar (1999), and The Ladies Man (2000)).

The curse of the SNL film is that what’s funny for a five-minute sketch is probably not funny over the course of a 90-minute feature film. Mike Myers injects enough youthful energy and fun into Wayne’s World to make it an exception to that rule.