My flatmate had bought "Wayne's World", an old favourite of mine, on dvd a while ago and it has been sitting in the living room for a few weeks now, still in its wrapper, tempting me mercilessly. Finally, on Saturday night, I could stand it no longer, and I rushed across the room and ripped it from its shiny cellophane (I asked first, of course!), desperately in need of the laugh I knew Mike Myers and co could provide for me. And it didn't disappoint.

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A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF "WAYNES WORLD"

Wayne Campbell seems to have a charmed life. Okay, as he puts it himself, he has "an extensive collection of nametags and hairnets" - but he also has his own show on public access television, ably assisted by his bashful sidekick Garth. Everyone in their home town of Aurora knows who he is and thinks he is fantastic, he has just landed the girl of his dreams in beautiful and exotic rock chick Cassandra and, on top of everything else, it seems "Wayne's World" is about to go mainstream, now that super-exec Benjamin Kane has gotten wind of the show and wants to sell it to an arcade supremo.

But this is, in fact, when everything starts to go wrong. By signing the contract, Wayne has effectively signed away his rights to control what the show is- and the show has been turned into some sort of over-commercialised monster. At the same time, Benjamin is putting the moves on Wayne's own "babe" under the pretence of helping her launch her music career, and Wayne may just be about to inadvertently push her further into Benjamin's arms.

But Wayne doesn't give up quite so easily as most guys and so he hatches a plot to rescue his hi-jacked show and get Cassandra a huge record deal, hopefully winning her back in the process. He has a huge army of friends, fans and even former foes to help him achieve his goal. But is it an impossible feat?

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THE STORYLINE

This movie may have a silly storyline and the acting may not be of the best calibre, but this doesn't make it any less entertaining. It reminds me of a Bill & Ted movie in this, bad acting and fairly two dimensional characters, but great fun all the same.

There are many entertaining scenes, the most memorable for most people who have seen this is probably one of the scenes near the beginning where Wayne, Garth and friends are in the car singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody. My personal favourite scenes are when Wayne shows off his grasp of cantonese to Cassandra . . .and most scenes which involve Garth!

There is nothing really deep or meaningful about this film, although there is a shallow underlying theme of not selling out, of staying true to your roots - or in Wayne's case, his parent's basement. It is basically just a couple of hours of humour, humour which at times can be infantile but remains entertaining nevertheless.

One of the most "fun" things about the movie however is the fact that it has more than one ending. This is fairly unusual for a film (apart from maybe "Sliding Doors" in which it was kind of expected) and never fails to entertain me - particularly when they do the Scooby Doo ending!

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THE CAST AND THE CHARACTERS

Mike Myers is great as Wayne, this will always be his best character in my opinion. Wayne is really not very attractive (to put it nicely), but is funny and charismatic enough to still be able to get the girls he wants, in this case Cassandra. His ex Stacey is also still very much around on the scene, harrassing him at every opportunity, which provides us with extra amusement, as her silly little plots tend to backfire on her. (A skinny-as-always Lara Flynn Boyle plays this part well, making Stacey a slightly pathetic but feisty character who annoys you but you can't quite bring yourself to hate her.)

Dana Carvey plays oddity Garth, the strange but loveable big-haired best friend. His dog has the same hairdo as him and this is what he reminds me of personality wise - a loyal canine chum. He hero-worships Wayne for the majority of the movie, and seems to far prefer to let his friend be in the spotlight. On the rare occasions it turns on him, he is extremely awkward and almost paralysed with fear. Which is funny, but a bit of a shame.

Cassandra is played by "Relic Hunter" star Tia Carrere and she is probably the most two-dimensional character of all. It is hard to know exactly why she decided she wanted to be with Wayne, or why she is seemingly unable to see what Benjamin is playing at. She remains likeable despite this acute stupidity (which is a fairly impressive feat) but mainly because we know Wayne likes her and we want her to realise the error of her ways and take him back.

I've saved the best for last though - Rob Lowe as the slimy Benjamin is simply fantastic. He has that sleazy, over-coiffeured look about him anyway, but he turns up the charm to over-the-top proportions in this movie, doing it in such a way that he basically becomes a parody of himself. I think he totally excels in this film.

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SOME QUOTES FROM THE MOVIE

Wayne Campbell: All I have to say about that is "asphinctersayswhat".
Noah: What?
Wayne Campbell: Exactly.

Bouncer: Wayne. How you doin'?
Wayne Campbell: Hey, Tiny, who's playing today?
Bouncer: Jolly Green Giants and the Shitty Beetles.
Wayne Campbell: Shitty Beetles? Are they any good?
Bouncer: They suck.
Wayne Campbell: Then it's not just a clever name.

Stacey: Well, don't you want to open your present?
Wayne Campbell: If it's a severed head I'm going to be very upset
Stacey: Open it.
Wayne Campbell: What is it?
Stacey: It's a gun rack.
Wayne Campbell: A gun rack... a gun rack. I don't even own *a* gun, let alone many guns that would necessitate an entire rack. What am I gonna do... with a gun rack?
Stacey: You don't like it? Fine. You know Wayne, if you're not careful, you're going to lose me.
Wayne Campbell: I lost you 2 months ago. We broke up. Are you mental? Get the net!

Russell: It will be Terry's job to give the actors their hand cue.
Wayne Campbell: Excuse me, Russell, but I believe I requested the hand job...

Garth: We're looking down on Wayne's basement. Only that's not Wayne's basement. Isn't that weird?
Wayne Campbell: Yeah, that's weird, man, that's weird. Garth! That was a haiku!

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CONCLUSION

If you want a lighthearted film which will make you laugh and not tax your brain too much, "Wayne's World" is ideal. It's silly, funny and immensely likeable and, if you haven't already seen it, I'm pretty shocked!

RUNNING TIME - 1 HOUR 34 MINS APPROXIMATELY

AVAILABLE FROM:
AMAZON - DVD £5.97
PLAY - DVD £6.99
CDWOW - DVD £6.99