Wayne's World

Poster credited to worth1000.com

The elements that make a good comedy are so elusive. All of the right tools can seem to be there - great cast, writing, & directing - but more often than not it comes off flat. Of those that are enjoyable, many only have topical humor that makes sense when framed historically. Few seem to stand the test of time, and even then it is hard to divide that from the individual experience. Sense of humor is so relative. Because of this I think any review of a comedy should be taken with a grain of salt. The same holds for my review of Wayne's World. I realized I'd never seen this movie beyond youtube videos of the famous "Bohemian Rhapsody" scene. Netflix just added it to their Watch Instantly catalog and so I queued it up and gave it a go. It was a delightfully weightless bit of fun.

The main reason why I wanted to record my thoughts on it is because of the way it dealt with the story. Normally a Hollywood comedy is so burdened by over-emphasized plot points. It becomes heavy and you just sit there counting the seconds waiting for the inevitable to happen. For that reason I find that the best pure-comedies forego the story line and just let you lay out and soak in the atmosphere and personality of the movie. What makes a good comedy is that it is full of characters that you want to spend time with in a world you want to spend time in.

With Wayne's World I was a little worried at the start as Wayne & Garth (played by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey) were getting set up to fail as they enter what is obviously a raw deal in going corporate with their public-access TV show - the main struggle of the movie - but it never spent enough time on that to drag the movie down. It thankfully glossed over all the main plot setup, coasted through the second-act escalation, and jetted right on to a joyful finale. This left more time for all the real fun like constantly breaking the fourth wall ("Hey, only Garth and I can talk to the camera!"), making fun of contemporary Hollywood (writing out "Gratuitous Sex Scene" instead of showing it), and plenty of pointlessly fun exclamations (Party on! Excellent! Schwing!). I was in a constant state of feeling pleasantly surprised as I enjoyed the little quirks and random jokes that often don't get into movies today because they are trying to follow a formula (a formula established in part by the success of the 90's SNL generation movies like this one).

While it's definitely teenage and immature, it is relatively low on the low-brow humor that seems necessary in the current comedic landscape. Some of the Judd Apatow films are thoughtfully funny, but that's in spite of the intense language and bathroom humor rather than because of it (I'm sure there are plenty who disagree - but good comedy and drama shouldn't use the crutch of ridiculously obscene language). I mean don't get me wrong, every part of the human anatomy gets its fair shake (har har). But While Wayne's World certainly wouldn't be labeled as clean, it doesn't rely solely on dirty jokes (it's PG-13 - check out a Parent's Guide for more info).

Instead, what may turn some of the younger viewers away, if seeing this for the first time, is that many of its references are a generation or two old. The Laverne & Shirley sequence or the commercial spoofs just don't make sense if you haven't seen the source material - although with those carefree, goofy smiles on Wayne's and Garth's faces, you'll laugh anyway. But I think the fact that Wayne's World helped establish this type of comedy might just cross generational boundaries.

The one thing I would've wished for more of was the actual public access TV show. I know all the old SNL skits are online whenever you like, and the pull for many of these transfers to the big screen is the ability to find who these people are, but the real charm of this movie is just watching Wayne and Garth be themselves, little to no plot line required. Rather than seeing what happens to them, Wayne's World is just an excuse to hang out with them a little longer.