Stubs - Chaplin

Chaplin (1992) Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Geraldine Chaplin, Kevin Dunn, Anthony Hopkins, Milla Jovovich, Moira Kelly, Kevin Kline, Diane Lane, Penelope Ann Miller, Paul Rhys, John Thaw, Marisa Tomei, Nancy Travis, James Woods Directed by Richard Attenborough. Screenplay by William Boyd, Bryan Forbes, William Goldman Based on My Autobiography by Charles Chaplin, and Chaplin: His Life and Art by David Robinson. Produced by Richard Attenborough, and Mario Kassar. USA/United Kingdom Color Run time: 145 minutes. Biography

Oftentimes when you learn the truth about your heroes, they become very human. Such is the case with Charlie Chaplin, one of the most influential filmmakers to have ever lived. If you’re not familiar with him, then you should be. Besides his genius, Chaplin had a fascination with young women, read that very young women, that would eventually catch up with him and be the excuse the U.S. government would use to ban him, for two decades, from entering his adopted country.

Since Chaplin was so influential in films, his being the subject of a film seems to be a no-brainer. Director Richard Attenborough, following his success with Gandhi (1982), had announced his plans to direct a Charlie Chaplin biopic, as part of his $75 million, three-picture deal with Universal Pictures. A longtime fan of Chaplin’s, Attenborough recalled seeing The Gold Rush (1925) at the age of eleven and credited the silent film star with inspiring his early acting career. He had also become friendly with Chaplin and his family in the 1970s while vacationing near them in the south of France. With the blessings of Oona Chaplin, Charlie’s widow, Attenborough acquired the rights to Chaplin’s autobiography, My Autobiography, and footage from his films.

For the title role, Attenborough apparently tested seven of the total thirty actors considered for the role, including Kevin Kline, Dustin Hoffman, Billy Crystal, and Robin Williams. He was looking for someone between the ages of thirty and thirty-five, who was small in stature, as he believed the body likeness was more important than the face.

Stay Tuned

While many of my interests often edge towards the obscure or lesser-known, it’s not too often I seek something out solely because of a small portion of it. This is the case with Stay Tuned, a lesser-known film from 1992 that I somehow stumbled upon, in which the premise sounded interesting, but it was one small part of it caught my interest enough to want to watch it. After watching it through Amazon Prime Video, in which it was free for Prime members, I did find it worth the watch, though it did not really exceed my already-low expectations going in.

Stubs - Batman Returns

 

Batman Returns (1992) Starring: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken. Directed by Tim Burton. Screenplay by Daniel Waters Based upon characters appearing in magazines published by DC Comics Inc., and on comic book characters by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Produced by Denise Di Novi and Tim Burton USA Run time: 126 minutes. Color. Adventure, Fantasy, Action, Crime, Superhero, Christmas

You might think of Batman and Christmas but that’s what you have with Batman Returns, at least that’s how we’re counting this entry into the Batman cinematic universe. The setting at Christmastime in Gotham City more than qualifies this for our purposes. But can you have a Happy Holiday while watching the Dark Knight?

Stubs - Aladdin

Aladdin (1992) Voices by Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman, Frank Welker. Narrated by Robin Williams. Directed by Ron Clements, John Musker. Produced by Ron Clements, John Musker. Screenplay by Ron Clements, John Musker, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio.  Run Time: 90 minutes. U.S.  Color, Animated, Fantasy, Musical, Comedy

For most of the 1990’s, Disney Animation went through what has been called a renaissance. After a disappointing run in the 1980’s, a new creative team took over and turned things around, starting with The Little Mermaid (1989).

On the cusp of that era, in 1988, lyricist Howard Ashman pitched the idea to Disney to turn Aladdin into an animated musical film. After writing a treatment and some songs with his partner Alan Menken, Linda Woolverton was brought in by the studio to write a screenplay. Directors John Musker and Ron Clements were given a choice of three projects to pursue: Swan Lake, King of the Jungle (later to become The Lion King) or Aladdin.

They chose the latter and wrote their own screenplay. Jeffrey Katzenberg, then the Disney studio chief, had issues with it and gave it to Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio to rewrite. They made the changes to not only the Musker and Clements script, but to the original story itself.

While Aladdin and the Magic Lamp may be an ancient Arab folktale, it actually takes place in China. The plot of the original story is far more complicated than the story most of us remember and certainly what is depicted in the Disney Aladdin:

In the original tale, which dates back to the One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, Aladdin is recruited by a sorcerer, who passes himself off as the brother of Aladdin’s deceased father, Mustapha. Aladdin, who is young, poor and ne'er-do-well is convinced, along with his mother, that the sorcerer is going to set Aladdin up to be a wealthy merchant. However, the sorcerer is really only interested in having Aladdin retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped magic cave.

After finding himself trapped in the cave, Aladdin uses a magic ring, given to him by the sorcerer as protection. Rubbing his hands in despair he releases a genie from the ring. The genie takes Aladdin home to his mother. Aladdin is still holding the lamp and when his mother tries to polish it, a second, more powerful genie is released, who is bound to do the bidding of the person holding the lamp.

With the aid of the genie, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries the Emperor’s daughter, Princess Babroulbadour, after foiling her marriage to the vizier’s (advisor) son. When the sorcerer returns, he offers the Princess a new lamp for old exchange. Not knowing the lamp’s importance, the Princess agrees and gives him the genie’s lamp. The sorcerer orders the genie to take Aladdin’s palace, along with all of its contents to his home in Maghreb.

Aladdin still has the magic ring and while that lesser genie cannot undo what has been done, he can transport Aladdin to Maghreb. There, he recovers the lamp and kills the sorcerer in battle and returns the palace and princess back home.

The happy ending has to wait. The sorcerer’s more powerful and more evil brother tries to get revenge. He kills Aladdin’s brother and disguises himself as an old woman known for her healing powers. Babrouldbadour is once again duped and commands that the woman stay in the palace. But Aladdin, who has been warned of this danger by the genie, slays the imposter. Aladdin eventually succeeds his father-in-law to the throne and now everyone can live happily ever after.

Changing a story or book for its cinematic treatment is nothing new in Hollywood. Call it poetic license or whatever you want, many times the Hollywood treatment has made a story more palatable and accessible to a wider audience.

Moved from China to an unidentified Middle Eastern location, the Disney Aladdin opens with a Merchant (voiced by Robin Williams) who tries to sell us goods but ends up offering to tell us the story of Aladdin.

Jafar (Jonathan Freeman) and his parrot assistant Iago (Gilbert Gottfried).

Jafar (Jonathan Freeman), Grand Vizier to the Sultan of Agrabah, and his wisecracking parrot assistant, Iago (Gilbert Gottfried), are waiting for a petty thief who has stolen half of an asp that bring forth the head of a panther whose mouth opens to the Cave of Wonders (Frank Welker), in which lies a magical oil lamp.

Jafar offers to let the thief keep all the treasure inside in exchange for retrieving the lamp. The thief’s attempt fails as the cave swallows him whole, but the voice from within tells them that only a “Diamond in the Rough” can enter.

We’re shown this “diamond in the rough”, Aladdin (Scott Weinger), a “street rat” who is being chased by authorities for stealing a loaf of bread. His only pal is his pet monkey Abu (Frank Welker), who helps him escape as he runs through the marketplace and up on the rooftops. But once he’s safe, this thief shows he has a heart of gold and gives his hard-won food to some starving street urchins.

Meanwhile, the Sultan's daughter, Jasmine (Linda Larkin), is frustrated with her life in the palace. She is tired of her father’s (Douglas Seale) attempts to find her a prince for a husband and flees to Agrabah's marketplace. There she meets Aladdin and the two begin a friendship. Jafar has Aladdin arrested. When Jasmine orders him released, Jafar lies and tells her Aladdin has already been executed.

In the disguise of an elder, Jafar releases Aladdin and Abu from the dungeon and leads them to the Cave of Wonders, promising a reward in return for retrieving the lamp. This time the cave allows them to enter but warns Aladdin to not touch anything but the lamp. They discover a magic flying carpet, but it is Abu’s attempt to steal a gem that causes the cave to collapse. The carpet flies them back to the entrance and Aladdin delivers the lamp to Jafar. His reward is that Jafar tries to kill him. Once again, Abu comes to Aladdin’s aide and thwarts Jafar, stealing back the lamp just as he, the carpet, and Aladdin fall back into the closing cave.

Aladdin frees the Genie (Robin Williams) from the lamp.

Aladdin rubs the lamp and unexpectedly unleashed Genie (Robin Williams), who reveals he will grant Aladdin three wishes with the exception of murder, romance, the revival of the dead or additional wishes. But Aladdin is clever and tricks the genie into magically freeing them from the cave without actually using one of his wishes. Genie tells Aladdin that he won’t receive any more magic help unless he explicitly states "I wish". While contemplating his wishes, Genie tells him he would wish for freedom, since he is a prisoner to his lamp. Aladdin promises to free Genie as his last wish. Aladdin’s first wish is to become a prince so he would have a chance to win Jasmine’s heart.

Jafar using mind control on the Sultan (Douglas Seale).

Meanwhile, Jafar uses mind control on the Sultan and convinces him to arrange a marriage between himself and Jasmine. Jafar then would have legal claim to become Sultan himself. But before he is able to succeed, Aladdin appears and parades into the Sultan's palace as "Prince Ali Ababwa". While the Sultan is impressed by the new suitor, Jasmine rejects Ali.

Aladdin takes Jasmine (Linda Larkin) on a magic carpet ride.

The Genie suggests to Aladdin to tell the princess who he really is, but Aladdin keeps up the act and takes Jasmine around the world on the magic carpet. Jasmine begins to suspect that Ali is actually the man she met in the marketplace and during the trip tricks Aladdin into admitting it. She demands the truth from Aladdin, but instead, he fabricates a story about sometimes dressing as a commoner to escape palace life. The couple kisses as Aladdin returns her home.

The Genie tries to convince Aladdin to tell Jasmine the truth.

Afterward, Aladdin is kidnapped and thrown into the ocean by Jafar, who makes a second attempt to arrange a marriage. Genie rescues Aladdin as his second wish, even though he can’t say the magic words himself. Aladdin returns to the palace and exposes Jafar's plot to the Sultan. After noticing the lamp in Aladdin's possession and realizing who Aladdin is, Jafar flees.

Despite his promise, Aladdin has second thoughts about freeing Genie with his third wish. He believes without Genie he is "just Aladdin". Meanwhile, Iago steals the lamp and brings it to Jafar. Now that he is the Genie's new master, Jafar uses his first two wishes to usurp the Sultan's throne and become the most powerful sorcerer in the world, enslaving Jasmine and the Sultan and exposing Aladdin as a street rat, before exiling him and Abu to a frozen wasteland.

Using the magic carpet, Aladdin and Abu return to the palace and Aladdin tries to sneak in and steal back the lamp. Jafar proposes using his third wish to make Jasmine his queen, but Genie protests that he cannot grant that wish since it involves love. Jasmine, however, has decided to feign interest in Jafar, allowing Aladdin to make a grab at the lamp. But Aladdin gets caught and has to battle Jafar, who turns himself into an enormous cobra and traps Aladdin.

Jafar claims to be "the most powerful being on Earth", to which Aladdin argues that Genie is more powerful. Jafar uses his final wish to become a genie himself without realizing genies are not free. As he is sucked into a lamp of his own, he drags Iago with him. The Genie sends Jafar's lamp flying into the Cave of Wonders.

Despite Genie’s urging, Aladdin doesn’t use his third wish to become Prince Ali again. Instead, he keeps his promise and frees Genie. Upon seeing his daughter’s love for Aladdin, the Sultan changes the law to allow her to marry whomever she wants. The newly free Genie leaves to explore the world while Aladdin and Jasmine celebrate their engagement.

Genie goes out to explore the world.

Like most of the films of the Disney Renaissance, Aladdin is a wannabe musical. Fourteen songs were written for the movie, though only six were actually used. All the music for the film was written by Alan Menken, with Howard Ashman and Tim Rice providing lyrics; the latter replacing Ashman after he died of AIDS in 1991. For the most part, the voice actors in the film do not sing their parts. The exception is Robin Williams, who is prominently featured on two of the movie’s songs: “Friend Like Me” and “Prince Ali”. The former was recently used in a sing-along tribute to Williams on Broadway. (Aladdin was turned into a musical, which opened on Broadway in 2014, after playing other venues for about three years prior.) The movie would win two Academy Awards: Best Music, Original Score, and Best Music, Original Song for “A Whole New World” and another nomination for “A Friend Like Me.”

Robin Williams also voices the Narrator of the story.

Despite his billing, Williams is the star of the movie. Known for his manic improvisational style of humor, the film seems to take advantage of Williams’ ability to change his voice and accent at the drop of a hat. During the song “Prince Ali”, Williams is called upon to be a woman swooning over the prince, a small boy in the crowd as well as commentators treating the princely parade as if it were the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day or Tournament of Roses Parade. The film even seems to incorporate his ability to mimic other actors and personalities including Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rodney Dangerfield, Ed Sullivan, and Peter Lorre. Likely, because it is an animated film, many other improvisations and impersonations never made it to celluloid, but in so many ways Aladdin showcases Williams’ versatility.

Robin Williams impersonates Jack Nicholson amongst others.

For a number of reasons, the film was a huge success grossing over $500 million on a budget of $28 million. This is mostly hand-drawn animation, but there are CGI elements and Pixar Animation, then it’s own independent studio does receive a credit. The film’s success spun off two direct-to-video sequels, The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996). On the first, Williams was replaced by Dan Castellaneta, who is best known as the voice of Homer Simpson.

After his performance as Genie, Williams had a falling out with Disney. Having done his voice work for scale out of gratitude for his success in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Williams only had a couple of conditions. First, neither his name nor image could be used to promote the film and his character from the film could not take up more than 25% of the image on a poster. He had another movie, Toys (1992), scheduled for release a few weeks after Aladdin’s release and didn’t want to be in competition with himself. But Disney went back on both of Williams’ conditions.

When Disney wanted to make a trilogy out of the story (three is a magic number in Hollywood), Castellaneta was hired to voice the Genie in The Return of Jafar and the animated television series which followed. However, a change in studio management and a subsequent apology from the then-new studio head Joe Roth brought Williams back for Aladdin and the King of Thieves. Even though Castellaneta had already recorded the Genie part, his work was replaced by Williams.

Even though the film might be aimed at children, this is definitely a film the whole family (meaning adults) can enjoy, too. While there are definitely some dark elements at play (Jafar), the comedic elements are its equal thanks in large part to Williams’ performance. Like most films from the Disney Renaissance, I would highly recommend this film. You may even find yourself watching this film more than once.

Stubs - Wayne’s World

Wayne’s World (1992) Starring: Mike Meyers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe. Tia Carrere. Directed by Penelope Spheeris.  Screenplay by Mike Meyers, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner. Produced by Lorne Michaels. Run Time: 94 minutes. U.S.  Color, Comedy

Movies and television may have started out as competition, but they have influenced one another. Many films have been turned into television series, including two series based on Casablanca and most recently Fargo, a limited series based on the movie of the same name. And several times TV movies and series have been brought to the big screen as well, from the sublime of Marty, which started as a play for TV, and to the ridiculousness of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which riffed on bad movies. But no show has “inspired” more movies than Saturday Night Live (SNL) which led to 11 films over a 30 year period from The Blue Brothers (1980) to MacGruber (2010). However, Wayne’s World is an SNL skit inspired movie which actually works, of which there are actually very few.

Back when Mike Meyers was more versatile than a Scottish brogue, he developed the character of Wayne Campbell, a part he played at parties and a character he brought with him to his stint on SNL. On the show, he expanded the skit to include a sidekick, Garth Algar (Dana Carvey), as in “Party on Garth”. On SNL, Wayne’s World was a send up of community access television, a show, hosted by a teenager, shot in the basement of his parents’ house, whom we never see, telecast on cable Channel 10 in Aurora, IL. The skit made such sayings as “Schwing”, “Excellent” and “Way, No Way, Way” popular to a certain generation of late night TV viewers.

In the movie, Wayne is a little older, say early 20’s, still living at home and going from one Joe job to another (name tags and hairnet work). His dream, he tells us directly addressing the movie’s audience, is to make a living doing Wayne’s World, but even he admits the chances of doing that are slim; monkeys flying out of his butt is used as a metaphor on the likelihood of that happening.

Wayne Campbell (Mike Meyers) and Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) interview local
Aurora inventor Ron Paxton (Charles Noland) on their cable access show Wayne's World.

Aurora is not without its night spots. Wayne and Garth, driving his mirth mobile, a 1977 AMC Pacer with a red flame painted on, the boys and their camera crew sing along to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody with hilarious results. They first stop to get doughnuts at Stan Mikita’s (Mikita is a former Chicago Blackhawks hockey player), where Wayne runs into his crazy ex-girlfriend, Stacy (Lara Flynn Boyle), and Garth can look at his dream girl (Donna Dixon), a counter girl at the shop. We also meet Glen (Ed O’Neill), the manager at Mikita’s, who briefly takes over breaking the fourth wall from Wayne, as he starts telling us about killing a man before Wayne informs him that only he and Garth can talk to the audience.

At Stan Mikita's, Wayne is confronted by his crazy ex- Stacy (Lara Flynn Boyle).

From there, the gang head to the Gasworks, a music club for Heavy Metal enthusiasts. There, Wayne sees Cassandra Wong (Tia Carrera), the lead singer and bassist for the band Crucial Taunt, doing a less than heavy metal rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s Fire. And schwing, Wayne is in love.

Meanwhile, Ad man Benjamin Kane (Rob Lowe), in bed with a former girlfriend Elyse (Ione Skye), discovers Wayne’s World and immediately seizes upon the idea of using it for potential client Noah Vanderhoff (Brian Doyle-Murray), the proprietor of a chain of video arcades, Noah’s Arcade. Along with his producing partner, Russell Finley (Kurt Fuller), they propose to a skeptical Noah and his wife (Colleen Camp) that he should sponsor Wayne’s World and get a spot on the show to advertise the new games at Noah’s. Once he’s convinced, Benjamin has to get control of the show.

Benjamin Kane (Rob Lowe) in bed with Elyse (Ione Skye) sees Wayne's World
for the first time and immediately sees how he can exploit it for his own gain.

$10,000 is a lot of money to Wayne and Garth and their knowledge of contracts dooms them as they sign away their show to Benjamin, who moves it out of Wayne’s parents’ house and sets up a replica in a TV studio in Chicago. Meanwhile, Benjamin also sees Cassandra perform and his interest in her isn’t purely business.

Garth seems to catch on to Benjamin’s ulterior motives before Wayne, but doesn’t really tell his friend his thoughts. With his new found wealth, Wayne buys his dream guitar, a ‘64 Fender Stratocaster in classic white with triple pickups and a whammy bar.

"Do you take cash?" After unwittingly selling his show, Wayne
buys the guitar of his dreams. Cassandra (Tia Carrere) is with him.

Back to business, Benjamin informs Wayne that Vanderhoff will be getting a spot on the show. In a scene, later parodied on shows like 30 Rock, Wayne and Garth talk about not selling out, while showing off “sponsored” product placement, including Pizza Hut, Doritos, Reebok and Nuprin.

Wayne vows not to let sponsors tell him how to run his show.

While Wayne’s new relationship with Cassandra starts to be a strain on his friendship with Garth, Benjamin gives them tickets to an Alice Cooper concert in Milwaukee as a way of getting Wayne out of the way so he could have a shot at Cassandra. Benjamin offers Cassandra the chance to get a recording contract.

Benjamin Kane (Rob Lowe) has his eyes on Cassandra.

When Wayne and Garth shoot their first Wayne’s World in the new studio, they are intimidated at first, but when Wayne is forced to interview Vanderhoff, he does his usual shtick and writes insulting comments about his guest and sponsor on the back of cue cards which he shows to his TV audience. Insults like “Sphincter Boy” and “This man has no penis” don’t sit well with Benjamin, who fires him on the spot. This leaves an ill-prepared and frightened Garth to run the show by himself. Wayne learns that Benjamin could care less if either Wayne or Garth is involved in the show, as well as learning about Benjamin’s intentions for Cassandra. When Garth and Wayne later meet up, they reconcile their friendship.

Wayne's antics towards new show sponsor Noah Vanderhoff (Brian Doyle-Murray) get him fired.

Along with their friends, Wayne and Garth decide to take their show back. Remembering something they’d overheard from a concert security guard (Chris Farley), Wayne and Garth set up a broadcast from the basement intended solely for the TV in the limo for rock promoter Frankie “Mr. Big” Sharp (Frank DiLeo), the man behind Sharp Records. Benjamin learns of the plan and hurries to Wayne’s house to stop the broadcast. He is briefly detained by Officer Koharski (Frederick Collin), who has a penchant for cavity searches.

Cassandra and her band Crucial Taunt rock out to The Ballroom Blitz.

In the first ending, Sharp and Benjamin arrive at the Wayne house at about the same time. Sharp tells Cassandra that now isn’t the time for him to sign her. Cassandra then leaves with Benjamin. Stacy shows up and informs Wayne that she’s pregnant with their child. Wayne and Garth are then nearly burned alive in a house fire.  

Speaking to the audience, Wayne acknowledges that this is a bad ending and they proceed to an ending reminiscent of an episode of Scooby Doo.

In the Scooby Doo ending, Benjamin is revealed to be Old Man Withers (Carmen Filpi),
who would have gotten away with his plans if it weren't for those meddlesome kids.

One more ending, the real “mega happy ending”, in which Sharp arrives and is so impressed by Cassandra’s cover of Sweet’s “The Ballroom Blitz” that he signs her to a six-record deal. Not only are Cassandra and Wayne together, but Garth’s dream girl shows up for a kiss as well.

In the mega-happy ending, even Garth gets a kiss from his dream girl (Donna Dixon).

The movie is irreverent as the skits had been on SNL, but still manages to successfully wing its way through a predictable, but still very fun storyline. I would say a lot of the credit for that belongs with the screenplay, written by Meyers with Bonnie Turner and her husband/writing partner Terry. What could have been one of what would end up being a long line of crash and burn SNL movies gets dimension as well as some very funny lines of dialogue.

Having Penelope Spheeris direct seems like an odd choice on the surface. Best known for directing a trilogy of film documentaries: The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988) and The Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1998); she does have some comedy chops. She produced Albert Brook’s film segments for the first season of Saturday Night Live as well as his first funny, but flawed, film Real Life (1979). She was also a writer for the Rosanne sitcom in 1990 prior to working on Wayne’s World. Afterward, she seems to have focused more on comedies than documentaries. She is responsible for bringing the 60’s TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) as well as The Little Rascals (1994) to the big screen. Other than those titles, most of her films don’t seem to stand out: Senseless (1998) and Balls to the Wall (2010) to name a couple of her post Wayne’s World works.

Mike Meyers is very good in his first film. He would go onto to star in such films as the offbeat romance So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), before doing a Wayne World’s sequel, Wayne’s World 2 (1993). He would go on to write and produce a 007 take-off Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), a film that would initially flop at the boxoffice, but would be saved by its home entertainment release, prompting a sequel, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).

In 2001, Meyers would play what might be his best known role, that of the title character in Shrek (2001), which would spawn its own sequels Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007) and Shrek Forever After (2010), not to mention spin off films with characters introduced through the Shrek franchise. Meyers seemed to do no wrong at the boxoffice, including The Cat in the Hat (2003). That is until he wrote, produced and starred in The Love Guru (2008). That film cost about $22 million more to make than it made at the boxoffice and is his most pronounced movie flop.

Most recently, Meyers has directed a documentary, Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (2014) about talent agent Shep Gordon, whom Meyers met while trying to license a song by one of Gordon’s clients, Alice Cooper, for Wayne’s World. Talk about a small world.

If there is a weak link in Wayne’s World, it might be Carvey’s Garth, who is really a one dimensional dweeb who is like someone who knows one piano chord which they play over and over again. Garth, who was created for the SNL skit to worship Wayne, really doesn’t have that much to do rather than look overwhelmed by everything. He gets a few direct addresses to the camera, but he is a minor character barely more important than Wayne’s love interest, Cassandra.

Tia Carrere, a Filipino-American actress, plays the Cantonese-speaking, but English-singing, Cassandra and actually does all her own singing in the part. While Carrere had been in films before Wayne’s World, her parts in this film and its sequel made her a star. Though she never really caught on as a leading lady, she has been quite successful as a voice actor, perhaps best known for playing Nani in Lilo & Stitch (2002), Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003-2006), Stitch! The Movie (2003), Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005) and Leroy & Stitch (2006).

Rob Lowe is easy to dislike as Benjamin Kane. Lowe has the appearance of the man with everything, including a fast-talking way with everyone he wants to influence. He always seems to get his way by pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes, a role he would recreate in Tommy Boy (1995), a film not inspired by an SNL skit, but starring Farley and David Spade, who were cast mates on the late night show, before branching out into films together.

Wayne’s World may not be for everyone, but while the film flirts with sophomoric humor it never quite succumbs to those tendencies. This is not high humor by any stretch, but when the film is funny it is laugh out loud funny. There are stretches that seem to have little to do with moving the plot forward, but seem designed to showcase the comedic and musical talents of the cast. I’m not sure we really need Garth’s dream-like drum solo or need to see Meyers walking around in his tighty whities wearing Cassandra’s bra, but for better or worse they are moments captured on film for this movie.

This may be faint praise, but Wayne’s World is the best of the SNL skit based films and as such is responsible for Lorne Michaels trying again and again (and failing again and again) to capture the magic of the five minute sketch on the silver screen. Wayne’s World is definitely worth watching and one of the few exceptions from the show that does not require caution before viewing.