Most excellent. My apologies, I’m getting my music-obsessed teens mixed up, and the similarities of Bill and Ted and the leading characters of Wayne’s World rather obvious. Two bumbling losers who have a knack for saying “excellent” and not being able to play musical instruments very well have dreams of becoming megastar celebrity sensations. It’s that era of Hollywood stoner humour, Americanisation’s, radical skater dudes popping wheelies and huffing paint. I don’t know, I never experienced life in the early 90s. Still, Wayne’s World is an interesting time capsule of miserable proportions, a piece of film that is, to put it nicely, relatively unfunny.
What surprises me most though is that the classic Bohemian Rhapsody scene isn’t just short, but boring. Wayne’s World is extremely boring. A handful of lines work thanks to some solid delivery from Myers. His style of comedy is something better represented in the likes of The Cat in the Hat or Austin Powers. Maybe it’s my hatred of stoner-based comedies, the frat party bros of the 80s are in full force throughout this fourth-wall absent piece. Carvey’s performance is poor even by the standards of most dullard sidekicks. Something about this role didn’t sit well, his inability to act as more than a dense, flat idiot leaves much to be desired.
The pair are inexplicably chirpy and popular, and I just don’t get it. The “party-on dudes!” lifestyle and atmosphere feels so forced and stereotypical throughout this. All the usual clichés and bland projections are there, but there are funny moments throughout. The Cantonese joke is cracking, a really good example of how subtitles and fourth wall breaks can be utilised in a way that isn’t completely awful. But that moment is all too brief, the funniest parts of the film don’t stick around for all that long. Instead, we make way for tired repetition, jokes that appear earlier in the film are inconsistent, unfunny, and appear at every corner. Myers and Carvey have somewhat consistent chemistry with one another, but not enough to carry a whole film that depends on personality and writing.
My ambivalence toward Mike Myers and Dana Carvey makes this an underwhelming watch. A classic comedy piece that doesn’t quite have the necessary charms. Altogether, a collection of fourth wall breaks in the form of narration, pop culture references, and Meat Loaf. A BTEC Bill and Ted, a weak man’s most excellent experience. This is far from the classics that surround it, in fact it’s a horribly weak piece that has all the hallmarks of spotless, squeaky clean, safe Hollywood direction from this early 90s period.
