| Wayne's World 2 | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Stephen Surjik |
| Written by | Mike Myers Bonnie Turner Terry Turner |
| Based on | Characters by Mike Myers |
| Produced by | Lorne Michaels |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Francis Kenny |
| Edited by | Malcolm Campbell |
| Music by | Carter Burwell |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million[1] |
| Box office | $72 million |
Wayne's World 2 is a 1993 Americancomedy film directed byStephen Surjik and starringMike Myers andDana Carvey as hosts of apublic-access televisioncable television show inAurora, Illinois. The film is the sequel toWayne's World (1992), which was itself adapted from asketch onNBC'sSaturday Night Live.
Rock and roll fans Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar celebrate their moving to a new factory loft home with an early edition of theirpublic-access television show,Wayne's World, and then head out with their crew to anAerosmith concert, where Wayne and Garth have backstage passes. They meet up with Wayne's girlfriend Cassandra (lead singer and bassist of the band Crucial Taunt) and are introduced to her new producer, Bobby Cahn. The duo is then denied further access backstage in spite of having passes. That night, Wayne has a dream in which he meetsJim Morrison and a "weird naked Indian" in a desert. Morrison convinces Wayne that his destiny is to organize a major music festival. Wayne and Garth dub the concert "Waynestock" (a pun on "Woodstock") and hire a former roadie, Del Preston. Their early attempts to sign bands (Aerosmith,Pearl Jam, andVan Halen are mentioned off the cuff by Wayne) and sell tickets fail, and Wayne wonders if the endeavor is futile.
Bobby tries to pull Cassandra away from Illinois, and Wayne, and have her move to Los Angeles. Wayne becomes suspicious of Bobby's ulterior motives and spies on them while they are having lunch. Wayne is spotted by them and flees with Garth and their friends while Bobby gives chase. Wayne and company are able to evade Bobby after performing an impromptu performance of "Y.M.C.A" in a gay club. After Wayne later admits spying on her, Cassandra breaks up with him and becomes engaged to Bobby. Wayne becomes more determined to make Waynestock a success to get Cassandra back. Meanwhile, Garth meets a beautiful woman named Honey Hornée. Later, Hornée attempts to manipulate Garth into killing her ex-husband, but Garth ends the relationship.
Tickets are sold for Waynestock, but no bands arrive. Leaving Garth to keep the rowdy crowd in check, Wayne disrupts Cassandra's wedding before escaping the ceremony with her and they get back together, in a parody of finale ofThe Graduate. Meanwhile, Garth hasstage fright during the concert and the crowd grows impatient. Wayne returns to find the bands have still not arrived.
Wayne and Garth consult Morrison in the dream desert, who says that the bands will not come, and that all that matters is they tried. Unable to return, they become lost in the desert and begin to die of thirst. Finding this unacceptable, Wayne and Garth reenact the ending ofThelma & Louise, driving their car off a cliff while trying to find the bands. Finally, Wayne and Garth admit that they just have to end the film with a standardhappy ending in which the bands arrive, and Waynestock is a success. Morrison tells Wayne that he needed to organize Waynestock to learn that Cassandra loves him for who he is; and also that adulthood requires one to take responsibility while being able to find fun in life. Bobby arrives to Waynestock to pursue Cassandra, but is prevented from entering.
In amid-credits scene, the entire park is covered with trash after the concert.The "weird naked Indian" begins to cry, but he cheers up when Wayne and Garth promise to clean up.
Penelope Spheeris, who directed thefirst film, believes that Myers encouraged the studio not to have her back for the sequel due to personality conflicts with Myers during the making of the first film.[13] She went on to direct another TV to big screen adaptation,The Beverly Hillbillies, instead and was replaced byStephen Surjik[14] for the sequel.
Myers' original script forWayne's World 2 had Wayne and Garth forming their own country and seceding from the US after finding an ancient scroll, in a story taken from the 1949 British comedyPassport to Pimlico. This version was well into pre-production before it came to light that the studio had no idea the script was based on a previous film and thus had not obtained the rights toPassport to Pimlico. Production was immediately halted—director Surjik said: "I could hear the chainsaws literally chopping the sets down."[15] Studio executiveSherry Lansing was reportedly furious with Myers and threatened to ruin his life and career if he did not immediately produce a new script.[16]
The character of Del Preston, played byRalph Brown, is an extension of his Danny character from the cult filmWithnail and I. The character was a late addition to the script, and came about after Dana Carvey saw a repertory screening ofWithnail and I in Los Angeles. Due to the age discrepancy between the two characters, they landed on Del being a "spiritual reprisal" of Danny, rather than a direct representation of the same character.[17][18][19]
Kim Basinger[20] did three days' worth of work onWayne's World 2. When discussing being approached to do the project, Basinger said[21] "I never sawWayne's World so I didn't know what it was about. But Dana Carvey just clean-called me and he was very sweet and sincere. He said, "We're really going to have fun, please do this with me." At first I said no, but he kept calling. It was just a blast. Dana's wonderful. It was a little gift to be given in the middle of the year."
Basinger noted that when Carvey approached her with the part, he refused to take no for an answer. When she showed the script to her then husband,Alec Baldwin, he loved it and told her that she must be in the film. According to her,[22] the echo effect clinched her decision to take part in the movie.
She said[23] when describing her character, "I'm this little character that they call Honey Hornée. ... I don't want to give away the whole plot, but I want to say that it's Garth's first screen kiss. Oh, and it's wonderful and (Dana Carvey) wrote it. He was magic for three days." And when asked whose hair was longer, hers or Garth's, Basinger said with a laugh, "You know, It was so funny, we sorta looked like each other. We're likeHarold and Maude; we're kinda this odd couple. But it works. You'd just love to follow these two people around the grocery store and see what they buy and wonder what they're gonna do with it. That's the kind of characters these two are."
Basinger also said[24] about working with Dana Carvey, "I honestly thought I was going to get fired because I could not keep a straight face. I never really looked into his eyes. I could never do it. I would focus on a piece of his hair and say" Be really cool Kim". And them when he started to kiss me, I just came apart." Dana Carvey joked[25] that making out with Kim Basinger was just awful. He added that he felt very bad for her because "kissing Garth[26] is like kissing a moving truck. The guy is so nervous, he's always weaving around".
The entire subplot of Garth finding himself in the clutches of a potentially dangerous femme fatale has drawn comparisons to the 1944 filmDouble Indemnity[27][28][29][30] starringFred MacMurray andBarbara Stanwyck. In that film, MacMurray plays an insurance salesman while Stanwyck plays a provocative housewife who wishes her husband were dead.
The laundromat where Garth first meets Honey Hornée was located at 6803Melrose Avenue[31] inLos Angeles and Honey'sapartment building was located at 5023 Maytime Lane inCulver City, California. When Garth is floating in the air kissing Honey in said apartment, a black wire that's holding Dana Carvey against the background of the white lampshade is visible.[32]
Wayne's World 2 received mixed-to-positive reviews.[33][34][35][36] OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has a 60% approval rating, based on 45 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The characters are still endearing, but the jokes inWayne's World 2 are more hit-and-miss the second time around".[37] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−", the same grade as its predecessor.[38]
Film criticRoger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, and wrote that Wayne and Garth are "impossible to dislike".[39]
Wayne's World 2 earned $13.5 million during its opening weekend.[40] Although it was intended to be aChristmas season blockbuster,Wayne's World 2 did not receive the box office intake nor positive fan reaction that the first film did. It grossed $48 million in the United States and Canada[41] and $24 million internationally for a worldwide total of $72 million,[42][43] much less than the original film's gross of over $180 million.Wayne's World 2 also suffered from competition from other holiday seasonblockbusters such asMrs. Doubtfire,Schindler's List, andThe Pelican Brief.[44]
Beginning in 2006,DirecTV began a series ofcommercials in which characters from popular movies and television showsbreak the fourth wall to tout the service's picture quality and the number of channels available in high definition. Instead of usingCGI the original actors normally reprise their roles on recreated sets, and resulting footage is mixed with the original scenes.[45] One such ad featuredKim Basinger[46] reprising her role as Honey Hornée[47] fromWayne's World 2.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)I hated that bastard for years," says Spheeris, who believes Myers dissuadedParamount from hiring her forWayne's World 2. "But when I sawAustin Powers, I went, 'I forgive you, Mike.'" She pauses, voice choked with emotion. "'You can be moody, you can be a jerk, you can be things that others of us can't be—because you are profoundly talented. And I forgive you.'
1994 international gross $22.2 million
1993 international gross $1.4 million
