Wayne's World 2

Wayne's World 2 is a 1993 American comedy film directed by Stephen Surjik and starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as hosts of a public-access television cable television show in Aurora, Illinois. The film is the sequel to Wayne's World (1992), which was adapted from a sketch on NBC's Saturday Night Live.

Wayne's World 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed byStephen Surjik
Produced byLorne Michaels
Screenplay byMike Myers
Bonnie Turner
Terry Turner
Based onCharacters
by Mike Myers
Starring
Music byCarter Burwell
CinematographyFrancis Kenny
Edited byMalcolm Campbell
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • December 10, 1993 (1993-12-10)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million
Box office$48.2 million[1]

Plot

Rock and roll fans Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar now host their public-access television show, Wayne's World, from an abandoned factory in Aurora, Illinois. After an Aerosmith concert, Wayne has a dream in which he meets Jim 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 Morrison's former roadie, Del Preston. Their early attempts to sign bands and sell tickets fail, and Wayne wonders if the endeavor is futile.

Wayne's girlfriend Cassandra, lead singer of the band Crucial Taunt, has a new producer, Bobby Cahn, who tries to pull her away from Wayne and Illinois. Garth meets a beautiful woman, Honey Hornée. After Wayne admits spying on her due to his suspicion of Bobby's ulterior motives, Cassandra breaks up with him and becomes engaged to Bobby. Honey 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 scene closely resembling the finale of The Graduate. Meanwhile, Garth has stage fright during the concert. Wayne returns to find the bands have still not arrived.

In the dream desert, Wayne and Garth consult Morrison, who says that the bands will not come, and that all that matters is they tried. Unable to return to Waynestock, they become lost in the desert and begin to die of starvation. Finding this unacceptable, Wayne and Garth reenact the ending of Thelma & 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 standard happy ending in which the bands arrive, and Waynestock is a success. Morrison tells Wayne that he needed to organise Waynestock to learn that Cassandra loves him for who he is, and 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 a mid-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.

Cast

Production

Penelope Spheeris, who directed the first 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.[2] She went on to direct another TV to big screen adaptation, The Beverly Hillbillies, instead and was replaced by Stephen Surjik for the sequel.

Myers' original script for Wayne'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 comedy Passport 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 to Passport to Pimlico. Production was immediately halted—director Surjik said: "I could hear the chainsaws literally chopping the sets down."[3] Studio executive Sherry Lansing was reportedly furious with Myers and threatened to ruin his life and career if he did not immediately produce a new script.[4]

The character of Del Preston, played by Ralph Brown, is an extension of his Danny character from the cult film Withnail and I. The character was a late addition to the script, and came about after Dana Carvey saw a repertory screening of Withnail 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.[5][6][7]

Reception

Wayne's World 2 received mixed-to-positive reviews.[8] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 60% approval rating, based on 45 reviews, with an average rating of 5.81/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The characters are still endearing, but the jokes in Wayne's World 2 are more hit-and-miss the second time around".[9]

Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, and wrote that Wayne and Garth are "impossible to dislike".[10]

Box office

Although it was intended to be a Christmas season blockbuster, Wayne's World 2 did not receive the box office intake nor positive fan reaction that the first film did. Its final North American gross was $48 million, slightly more than its $40 million production budget, but much less than the original film's gross of over $100 million. Wayne's World 2 also suffered from competition from other holiday season blockbusters such as Mrs. Doubtfire, Schindler's List, and The Pelican Brief.[11]

Soundtrack

See also

References
  1. "Wayne's World 2 (1993) – Daily Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  2. Rottenberg, Josh (June 16, 2008). "Mike Myers: Man of Mystery". ew.com. Retrieved May 26, 2017. I hated that bastard for years," says Spheeris, who believes Myers dissuaded Paramount from hiring her for Wayne's World 2. "But when I saw Austin 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.'
  3. Melnychuk, Mark (March 3, 2017). "Making Wayne's World 2 was 'traumatic' for director Stephen Surjik". Regina Leader-Post. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  4. THR Staff (April 21, 2017). "Why Sherry Lansing Threatened Mike Myers: 'I'll Take Your F—ing House'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  5. N. Abrams, Harry (May 1, 1996). "Withnail and I": The Screenplay 10th Anniversary Edition (Anniversary ed.). Unites States: The Overlook Press. p. 3. ISBN 0879516585.
  6. "Withnail and I Fun Facts". Mental Floss.
  7. "Waynes World 2 Triva". iMBD.
  8. Tempest, Rone (September 11, 1992). "Wayne's World 2': It's Not as Good, but Still Worthy". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  9. "Wayne's World 2 (1993)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  10. Ebert, Roger (December 10, 1993). "Wayne's World 2". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  11. Fox, David J. (December 13, 1993). "Wayne, Garth Party On at the Box Office Movies: 'Wayne's World' sequel pulls in an estimated $14.2 million to push "Mrs. Doubtfire" into second place. "Sister Act 2" opens in third". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
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