Feb. 14, 1992
Paramount
Comedy, Romance
VHS
B
It's very tempting to say, "Let the '90s begin!" Although the influence of the '80s is still felt in this movie (from Bill & Ted to heavy metal), this has a very '90s sensibility. It is also far better than you'd expect for a concept inspired by a running sketch on Saturday Night Live. The funny, often sharp, fourth-wall-breaking script was cowritten by Wayne himself (Mike Myers) with wife-and-husband writing team Bonnie & Terry Turner, whose affection for '60s through '90s pop culture would also be seen a few years later in The Brady Bunch Movie. From Grey Poupon commercials to Bugs Bunny's drag act, this movie references a lot of things that Gen-Xers in particular can appreciate. And that fourth-wall-breaking is used to great effect, mostly by Wayne and best buddy Garth (Dana Carvey, acting like a shy, demented child), but sometimes "borrowed" by Ed O'Neill and others.
If I can't rate the film higher, it's that it's not non-stop hilarious, and there are times when Mike Myers gets on my nerves (although nowhere near what he does in his movies from this century). Also, I can't say I was particularly invested in his romance with cover-singing Cassandra. Still, there are few better examples of a '90s time-capsule movie, and if you want to hear "As if!" pre-Clueless, or see what sort of technology was then available to beam a live music act into someone's limo, look no further.
Brian Doyle-Murray appears as Noah Vanderhoff, the buffoon sponsor, while Lara Flynn Boyle is Wayne's obsessed ex Stacy. Alice Cooper yet again plays himself, while Meat Loaf is "Tiny," ha ha. Carmen Filpi, who plays Old Man Withers in the "Scooby Doo ending," would be Old Man in Bar in The Wedding Singer.
 |
| "Bohemian Rhapsody" |
No comments:
Post a Comment