Wayne's World

Ask most men within a decade of my age in either direction to list the 100 best movie scenes of all time, and the scene from "Wayne's World" where they sing/lip sync Bohemian Rhapsody in the car will be on more lists than not. It might even make every list. Not designed for the "critically acclaimed" snob set, Wayne's World, the film adaptation of the extremely popular Saturday Night Live skit by the same name, targets its audience perfectly and never even enters the water, let alone jumps any sharks. The movie is true to itself from start to finish.

The bedrock of the film, as well as the skit, is the unbending friendship of Wayne and Garth. Most children have one best friend who stands out above all others, and there's no mistaking that Wayne (SNL alum Mike Myers) and Garth (SNL alum Dana Carvey) have that type of friendship. The best friends host a cable access show in Aurora, Illinois, also sharing the skit's title. Other SNL alums, such as Brian Doyle-Murray (Noah) and Chris Farley (a concert security guard), round out the cast.

The plot centers around an opportunistic television producer named Benjamin Kane (Rob Lowe), who, with funding from an arcade owner, turns Wayne's World into a slickly produced national show, causing it to lose touch with its audience, and causing friction between Wayne and Garth, who feel they have sold out their fans and their roots. A love interest is tossed to Wayne in the form of Cassandra (Tia Carerre), in triangular form due to the attention paid to her by Kane as well as Wayne.

The pop-culture cuisinart responsible for most of the SNL skits was working in overdrive in this film, and that's a good thing. Everything from product placements, to gratuitous sex, to lame plot devices were lampooned. Rob Lowe was excellent as the sleazeball junior television executive, while cameos abound from the rock world, including Alice Cooper and Meat Loaf. Though not publicized as much as the other quotables from the movie, my personal favorite scene was when Wayne and Garth were each laying on parked cars, and Garth starts whistling the closing theme from Star Trek.

SNL-based movies have been hit-or-miss since their inception, but this was unquestionably a hit.