Wayne's World (1992) |
|
Wayne's World (1992) |
|
|
| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Comedy |
Main Menu Introduction Menu Animation & Audio Interviews-Cast & Crew Audio Commentary-Penelope Spheeris (Director) Theatrical Trailer |
|
| Rating |
|
||
| Year Of Production | 1992 | ||
| Running Time | 90:30 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (47:16) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Penelope Spheeris |
|
Studio
Distributor |
 Paramount Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Mike Myers Dana Carvey Rob Lowe |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
| RPI | $39.95 | Music | J. Peter Robinson |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0  (224Kb/s)Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
|
|
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
||
| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
Greek English Spanish French Hebrew Croatian Italian Portuguese Slovak English Audio Commentary French Audio Commentary Italian Audio Commentary Spanish Audio Commentary |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | Yes, but more funny than annoying | ||
| Action In or After Credits | Yes | ||
"In the tradition of The Ten Commandments, Lawrence of Arabia and Gandhi comes a sweeping screen epic bursting with spectacle and drama . . . NOT!"
Australian audiences were only introduced to Wayne's World at the cinema in 1992, but 'teenager' Wayne had been around for some time before that. Canadian comedian, Mike Myers, began playing Wayne in Toronto comedy clubs during the 1980s, and later occasionally on a CBC comedy program. Wayne's big break was to come on the long running, and popular US television comedy program, Saturday Night Live (SNL).
SNL, (which finally came to Australia with the arrival of Foxtel), has helped launch the careers of countless comedy writers and comedians, most notably Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Billy Crystal, Eddie Murphy, Gilbert Gottfried, Jon Lovitz, Rob Schneider, Gilda Radner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Phil Hartman, Conan O'Brien, David Spade, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, and 'Blues Brothers' Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.
Over the years SNL has also launched a number of spin off movies, such as the forgettable Coneheads and It's Pat:The Movie, and more recently, the sub-par The Ladies Man, A Night at the Roxbury and Superstar: Dare to Dream. The main problem with most of these movies is that a great idea for a short television comedy skit is usually not a great idea for a 90 minute big-screen movie. Wayne's World is the notable exception!
Based on the SNL sketch of the same name, Wayne's World is a very funny and well-paced comedy that has almost achieved cult movie status. Like SNL, it is post-modern comedy: The actors talk directly to the audience, (and even to the crew), and there are numerous satirical references to other movies and television programs. While some of the jokes fall flat, most hit their mark.
The Plot: Wayne (Mike Myers), and his slightly disturbed and insecure best friend, Garth (Dana Carvey) produce, co-host and broadcast a youth-culture chat show entitled 'Wayne's World' on local public access television, from Wayne's parent's basement. The show is 'discovered' by a slimy Chicago television executive (Rob Lowe), who wants to exploit the program, and produce a big-budget, network television version, threatening the show's credibility. But it seems that the show is not the only thing the slimy executive is interested in obtaining, as he also takes an interest in Wayne's new girlfriend, Cassandra (Tia Carrere).
Will Wayne and Garth sell out?
The transfer is very good, and an absolute pleasure to watch on a 16x9 widescreen television. I should mention that the picture does appear slightly grainy throughout, but this is attributable to the source material. I assume that a higher-grain film was used, which may be due to the film's relatively low budget, rather than for any artistic reasons. In fact, the entire movie was shot in 34 days!
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.
Generally the image is very crisp and sharp. For example, a shot of high-rise buildings at 45:29 displays a razor sharp image. But, occasionally the background becomes soft and blurry, for example at 22:14 and 33:49. The shadow detail is excellent, and there is no low level noise.
The colour in the image in a real treat, displaying a rich palette of bright primary colours and very realistic skin tones.
There are no MPEG artefacts or film-to-video artefacts.
There are, however, film artefacts throughout the movie. Thankfully, they are very small and not disruptive at all. Examples of these tiny black or white flecks can be seen at 2:30, 21:03, 32:31, 51:50 and 55:27.
If you look hard enough, you may spot some edge enhancement, for example at 46:14 and 52:46. But this is so slight that it is probably not even worth noting.
Considering the speed and budget of the production, the movie maintains a surprisingly high production standard. There is some shaky hand-held camera work at 54:00, and some dirt on the camera lens at 0:45, but there are no glaring technical errors (just a few minor continuity errors).
All the subtitles promised on the packaging are present, and the English subtitles are fairly accurate.
This is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed between Chapters 10 and 11 at 47:16. While it is at the end of a scene, it is not between scenes, so it is mildly disruptive.
| Sharpness |  |
| Shadow Detail | |
| Colour |  |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
Originally theatrically released in Dolby Stereo Surround, and remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 for this DVD, the audio retains much of its original Stereo Surround feel.
Apart from the English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, there are also four Dolby Stereo Surround tracks: French, Italian, Spanish and the director's commentary.
The dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent on the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track.
The musical score is credited to J. Peter Robinson, but it is the rock classics, such as Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady that grab the listener's attention. Both the movie's source music and score have a driving upbeat hard rock flavour which serves the movie well. There are often flourishes of frantic electric guitar playing in between scenes, which is reminiscent of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and the occasional use of original keyboard/synthesiser background music, for example at 50:09. In keeping with the post-modern flavour of the movie, the score also incorporates the use of the themes from Star Trek, Mission Impossible and Laverne and Shirley.
As stated earlier, the surround sound mix is extremely front-heavy, but considering that this is a dialogue based comedy, that is quite acceptable. The rear speakers are used occasionally to help carry the score and provide some ambience. Good moments of surround activity occur at a night club (12:40), at a rock concert (58:15), and when a low-flying passenger jet passes overhead (68:10). There are not a great deal of split rear directional effects, but one nice effect involves Jimi Hendrix's guitar at 48:56.
This is not the sort of movie to exploit the use of your subwoofer, but the subwoofer is utilised to support the hard rock score, for example the bass and drums at 13:21 and 55:50. It also does support the occasional effect, such as when that aforementioned low-flying passenger jet passes overhead at 68:10.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use |  |
| Subwoofer | |
| Overall | |
The extras would be described as being of 'quality' rather than 'quantity'.
The clever animated menu emulates a cable television guide (such as Channel 13 on Foxtel). The menu is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Stereo sound. The menu also features a number of humorous adverts and plays the movie trailer within a window of the screen.
Theatrical Trailer
This captures the comedic style and spirit of the movie. This one minute and fifty eight second trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Stereo audio.
Thankfully these are genuine interviews, and not the usual television marketing dribble.
Running for twenty three minutes and fifteen seconds, this extra is presented in an aspect ratio of 4:3, non-16x9 Enhanced. Clips from the film are presented in pan and scan. Strangely, the audio is Dolby Stereo Surround encoded, yet the surrounds are only used during the opening theme music.
The interviews are recent, and despite the usual mutual-admiration back-slapping, they are quite interesting. Some of the principal cast and crew members reflect on the making of the movie and its later success. They also place the movie within its historical context, and what it meant for their careers. For example, for the director (Penelope Spheeris), and for Myers, this was their first feature movie.
Spheeris has a lot of fun with this commentary, often laughing as she shares behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the movie. She manages to provide a number of great insights and some interesting background information about the movie, and its cast and crew. Spheeris also discusses her documentary film making background, and her fascination with youth-culture.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Wayne's World and its sequel Wayne's World 2 were both released on DVD in Region 1 in October 2001. Region 1 consumers have the choice of buying them separately, or packaged together as Wayne's World 1 & 2 - The Complete Epic, whereas in Australia, they are only available separately.
As for Wayne's World . . .
The Region 4 DVD misses out on:
The Region 1 DVD misses out on:
As the two versions are basically even, I favour the local release for its affordability, and superior PAL image.
Wayne's World is a fun pop-culture post-modern comedy filled with the comic misadventures of Wayne and Garth -- two often vulgar, but extremely likeable, suburban teenage head-banging heavy-metal-fan mates.
The video quality is excellent.
The audio quality is very good, although extremely front-heavy.
The extras are genuine and really do add to the enjoyment of the movie.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using S-Video output |
| Display | Grundig Elegance 82-2101 (82cm, 16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Sony STR DE-545 |
| Speakers | Sony SS-V315 x5; Sony SA-WMS315 subwoofer |