Wayne’s World (1992) - a retrospective

Whether or not they simply couldn’t afford the songs to create the world they wanted to, but Wayne’s World has always stood out to me as that rare, so very very very rare, jewel of a comedy movie that actually works.  

Brevity is the soul of wit, which is the enemy of long-form comedy motion pictures.

There.

I adore sitcoms, mostly American ones, as they are the perfect medium for my most favourite of genres. Life is hard. Even if you have it easy. So levity is a cure for most ailments. I get young people wanting grimdark nonsense. Kids are great at being kids. They have that down pat. But old farts like me want something lighter to get closer to the grave without much agony.

And it does get agonising, folks.

I remember being shown Wayne’s World by my film studies tutor in the late-90s and being rather confused. It’s not a particularly visual film, but there is something deeper on display. This was the same film studies tutor that forced me to apologise to my bully, which was incredibly psychologically damaging to me.

I believe he ended up in prison for tax fraud, so he was clearly not a moral man.

So what is it about Wayne’s World that is so great? Well, the main point is that it is not a film about what it claims to be about. It presents two airheaded teenagers into heavy metal music, claiming to be documenting their lives and said community. But it is not. If anything, Wayne’s World hands over its entire production to its idiot protagonists and lets them make the film they want to make.

Fourth wall-breaking and everything.

You don’t even get a satisfying first kiss moment between Wayne and Casandra. They’re just suddenly in a relationship. The film doesn’t need to explain to you when or why or how that happened. It just did. You’ll probably never even notice it.

And I’m fine with it.

I’d like produce a fan commentary for this film, but this is the best you will get for now. I have so many things to say, but so little time and finger energy. I hope Mike Myers and Dana Carney understand the work of art they have created here, as I guess they do.

I even assumed, for decades, that they got renowned astronomer Sir Patrick Moore to be in the movie for the mustard sequence. But why on Earth would he/they do that?! They wouldn’t! And they didn’t. I’m still learning things about this movie now, as of 2026.

It’s a work of art and you should not shy away from it just because it dares to tell a joke or two.

Do stay in touch, darlings.

Toodles!