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Wayne’s World 2 is directed by Stephen Surjik (The
Kids in the Hall.) The film stars Mike Myers (Austin Powers),
Dana Carvey (This Is Spinal Tap), Tia Carrere (Jury Duty),
Ed O’Neill (Married With Children), Charlton Heston (Planet
of the Apes (1968)), Drew Barrymore (Batman Forever), Kim
Basinger (Batman (1989)), Aerosmith, and Christopher Walken
(The Deer Hunter.) The film, like the first, 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
up to their old tricks again. This time around, Wayne (still
living in his parents’ basement) is on a mission from the
rock gods – put together a concert in his hometown, and
bring the hottest band in the land – Aerosmith. Alas, not
all as well in Aurora. Cassandra (Carrer e), Wayne’s rock
star girlfriend from the previous film, wants to expand
her career. And the record industry man who can help her
(Walken) is determined to make her his own. It’s up to Wayne
to not only organize the greatest concert that ever was,
but also to save his love life. ***
Wayne’s World was an instant classic that needed no
sequel. But since the original was such a surprise hit,
it’s no surprise they went ahead and made one. The end result
is, to put it bluntly, a mistake. A film that should never
have been made. ***
Wayne’s World (the first one) was great because the
jokes kept flying at you – and about ninety percent of them
stuck. This film keeps the jokes coming, but they just fall
flat. The movie attempts to continue the film/genre20spoofing
the first movie did, but this time around it’s done in excess,
and what is spoofed is done weakly. The cameos from big-name
stars, including the late Charlton Heston, are fun, but
there’s just not that much here that’s funny. Several scenes
of the film feature an old roadie telling several stories
about how he got bands to play – but it’s always the same
story. And it wasn’t funny the first time – so why the hell
would it be funny each subsequent time? There are a few
little scenes where the movie makes fun of (supposedly)
being on a low budget, and I will admit, those made me laugh.
Too bad not much else did. ***
As if the jokes falling flat wasn’t bad enough, the
plot sucks. Most of the movie is the whole “rich successful
guy trying to steal Cassandra from Wayne” thing. We saw
this in the first movie, remember? Though I won’t argue
that Christopher Walken does play the sleazy record promoter
well. Another big problem is that Garth is mostl y “on the
sidelines” for the entire film, being forced to participate
in uninteresting romantic subplots. ***
File Wayne’s World 2 on that lengthy list of “sequels
that should never have been made.” This is more a rehash
than a sequel, and everything the first movie did, this
one does to a far worse extent. Only die-hard fans of the
films and sketches will want to get the second on Blu-Ray.
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Image and Sound:
You’ll laugh again ! You’ll cry again! You’ll hurl again!
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 (and it definitely works a little better than
the first film’s Blu transfer), but like the first film
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 (and it too
outclasses the first movie.) 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.
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