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Wayne's World
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (16th July 2009). |
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The Film
 Long before Mike Myers killed his career with "The Love Guru" (2008) and Dana Carvey faded into obscurity in the shadow of his more famous co-star there was "Wayne's World" a film adaptation of the wildly successful characters these two played on their "Saturday Night Live" (1975-Present) run in the 90's. I'd never seen a single sketch before the film, I never got into "SNL" until my twenties, but back in 1991, despite never having seen a single sketch, I too fell into the "Wayne's World" hysteria. The film was quickly made and released to much hype and fanfare, sparking a series of pop-culture references and highly quotable lines - "Schwiiiiing!". The film isn't particularly good looking back at it 17 years later. The film, its jokes and characters are very much a product of their time and if you're interested in unlocking a time capsule back to the early 90's then "Wayne's World" is a good place to start. "Wayne's World" tells the story of long time buds Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) and Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) host a live cable access show from Wayne's mother's basement in Chicago. Their love of heavy metal and hot chicks are almost always the topic of conversation and they definitely love to "party on". The show eventually catches the eye of TV executive Ben (Rob Lowe) how gives the boys their own prime time show that skyrockets them into the big time. Wayne falls in love with Cassandra (Tia Carrere) the lead singer of a metal band, and things are generally pretty good for the boys. When thy discover Ben has a hidden agenda to ruin them and steal Cassandra away from Wayne, as they must make their show the #1 rated on TV. The film's plot is thinly structured, but first impressions suggest it's the most logical plot outline these characters could be set upon, after all the next step to public access is a network show and all the pitfalls that come with that success. The comedy comes from the fact these two hometown losers, who are essentially adult kids don't know how to handle the success and also don't know how to fit into the corporate world. This leads to several jokes that attempt to make fun of the suits that give these boys their golden opportunity, such as the "asphinctersayswhat". They also pad out the film's run time with a series of spoof references that essentially make this a feature-length series of sketches that cobbled together under the thin plot. There are some classically funny moments throughout the film such as the "Bohemian Rhapsody" sing-a-long in Wayne's car, the various quick-witted returns and the general chumminess of the film's duo. They chemistry is what helps makes this film work on some levels, however it's not enough to solidify it among the greatest comedies of all time... it is certainly memorable however. There are jokes that fall flat, and there are moments of sheer stupidity and of course a lot of references are very dated now which doesn't help the film, but it's still relatively enjoyable to watch. I can't see any new fans jumping on the "Wayne's World" bandwagon, as these releases are primarily for the old-school fans that were there when it was big and the followed these characters on "SNL" so it's hard for me to recommend this film to anyone that already hasn't seen it...
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen in high-definition 1080p 24/fps mastered in AVC MPEG-4 compression. The film is surprisingly clear, there's some grain but it's inherent in the film stock used. The sharpness was pretty solid, textures hold up well and the colors looked real good. They were vibrant and rich and the skin tones were natural. Black levels are a bit noisy and some scenes look flatter overall in a slightly above average image transfer. I was happy to see little dirt and specks, a few popped up here and there but it wasn't distracting.
Audio
Three audio tracks are present on this disc in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/24-bit as well as a French Dolby Digital 2.0 surround and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono tracks. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its TrueHD audio, overall I found the track to be a bit front heavy with lacking depth in the surrounds. Ambient sounds and music tends to fill in the rest but I was a little underwhelmed by the whole soundtrack. However in saying that, the track fits the film well and that's all we can really ask for in this case. Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Extras
Paramout has ported over all of the DVD extras that includes an audio commentary, a featurette and the film's original theatrical trailer. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up is the feature-length audio commentary by the film's director Penelope Spheeris. Spheeris has been involved with "SNL" during the time of "Wayne's World" and has some decent directing credits behind her as well, she talks in this track about the development of the sketches and into a feature film. She comes across as an affable person and provides a decent amount of information regarding the film's production, on the comedic elements and the music. She seems to like the characters and tried to get the film off to a successful start. Overall it's a fine track but I would have liked it if other cast and crew were asked to participate, I'd have like to hear from the film's two stars the most. "Extreme Close-Up" is the only featurette on the disc and runs for 23 minutes 14 seconds, is a retrospective look back at the film, the characters, music and the impact of the film on general pop-culture. It's a neat look back for fans of the film and the sketches and provides some decent interviews. Rounding out the extras is the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 6 seconds.
Overall
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