All Rise...

Party hard, Judge David Johnson! Party hard.

Editor's Note

Our review of Wayne's World, published July 10th, 2001, is also available.

The Charge

"Game on!"

Opening Statement

Have you been dying inside, waiting with breathless anticipation to finally lay your eyes on the high-definition glory that is Rob Lowe holding a giant snake?

Facts of the Case

Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth (Dana Carvey) are two grown men of an undetermined age that live with their parents and broadcast the shortest cable access show in history to the Illinois suburbanites. The kids seem to love it, though, prompting a shifty TV producer (Rob Lowe) to secure the rights to "Wayne's World" and turn it into a corporate juggernaut.

At first Wayne and Garth are fine with this but then they have a falling out with both the producer and each other and go their separate ways. They eventually get back together and Wayne somehow convinces Tia Carrere to allow him into her bed in just his briefs.

The Evidence

Yeah, I'm thinking Wayne's World hasn't aged terribly well since it made some modest cinematic waves in 1992. I remember those carefree middle school days when SNL achieved water-cooler (water-fountain, rather) momentum over the preening misadventures of Wayne and Garth. And the feature adaptation elicited a solid amount of guffawing from me when I caught it. But now, 16 years later, this thing just feels flat.

During that elapsed time Myers has employed his same shtick to more and more uninspiring stuff, culminating in the aneurism that was The Love Guru. What was once new and semi-cool is now aged and crusty. Fair or not, Wayne's World suffers this affliction. It's like a retroactive pox on his prior works. Carvey's cutesy Garth stuff suffers equally as much. I'm actually surprised I found this character funny, because he doesn't really do anything funny. I mean, leaving a dance club to get a homemade stun gun, what the @#$% is that?! My theory: what powered Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2 to success was more the hip, popularity of the characters and the concept and not the actually cleverness of the enterprise.

Or maybe I speak a vile heresy?

Regardless, the film is here on Blu-ray and, as is the standard talking points for these catalog HD releases, it represents the finest viewing experience you can currently get for your home theater—but that's about it. The 1.85:1 widescreen in enhanced enough to make a difference, sporting a bright, clean picture quality presentation throughout. It's not reference-disc quality. Fans of the film won't be disappointed, though. The audio—TrueHD 5.1 surround—won't set your world on fire, but it's clean. You've seen the extras before: director Penelope Spheeris's commentary and cast and crew interviews.

Closing Statement

It's another low-octane catalog title, benefiting from a bump in clarity of picture and sound. The recycled extras fail to be excellent.

The Verdict

There is a noticeable lack of shwing going on here.

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