I don't really feel the need to justify why this is a fun comedy, but it's a great example of being a product of its time and one of the best representations of the early '90s. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey bring their basement dwelling metalheads from Saturday Night Live to the big screen in a meta plot that involves adapting their public-access show for mainstream audiences. It's mostly an excuse for funny one-liners and catchphrases, but there's a lot of clever plot devices being employed here. Between this and Austin Powers, Myers dominated the '90s comedy scene. If you were a weird, grungy '90s kid, stuff like this and Beavis & Butt-Head were peak. No need to overthink it.
4 Schwings! out of 5
Note: You ever notice how many comedy posters have cloudy blue skies?
6 comments:
My strongest memory of Wayne's World is listening to my girlfriend's younger brother quoting lines from it for days after he came back from seeing it at the cinema. (The father would send him into the room with us to cock-block me.) I've never seen an episode of SNL in my life and had no idea what the hell the kid was talking about.
I saw the movie a few years later on VHS. The Bohemian Rhapsody scene is fantastic, but I don't recall much of anything else. I don’t think I ever watched the second one.
Oh yeah, it’s 100% nostalgia bait (particularly if you grew up with it) and one of those movies that gets better the more you watch it. The cock-blocking kid knows what’s up. :erm:
I'm a sequel guy. We know this. Haven't seen them in forever, but I do remember preferring 2. Now I want to watch Gremlins 2...
I kept going back and forth on whether to give the sequel a 3½. I literally spend hours thinking about this stuff. Expect it to change depending on my whim of the moment.
I'm all for nostalgia, too. Wayne's World just didn’t click with me at the time. Bill + Ted was my thing. (Since commenting the other day, I've remembered a few other things, though, such as the "It will be mine!" guitar shop window scene and the wavy hand gesture that preceded a dream sequence.)
I saw Gremlins 2 at the cinema. I love the first one and remember feeling disappointed that the second was so different in tone. Coincidently, I found a copy of it just last week and had already decided to give it another try.
I'd give the Wayne's Worlds another chance, too. I'm sure there's jokes I didn't get the first time. And I love revisiting that era in movies.
Oh, make no mistake, the first Bill & Ted is the clear winner if you're comparing them directly (cuckoo gave it a tepid score, but the first one is like a 4-5 for me). This one is a much more aimless comedy that mostly thrives due to the character quirks and scenes like you mentioned that tend to stick in your mind. It's all about that early '90s vibe which almost feels quaint and old fashioned, like a direct line to my youth.
The first Gremlins had a much better story and darker vibe, but the second one is so fun and irreverent and embraces all aspects of a Looney Tunes cartoon. I keep hearing rumblings about a third film and I think we're closer than ever to it finally happening, which is both exciting and terrifying. Between Beetlejuice 3, Goonies 2 and Gremlins 3, it's like a nostalgia renaissance. (That reminds me, I gotta put Bill & Ted 3 on my nut list.)
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