Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 11, 1993 TAG: 9312110100
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
First girl: "It was like you could have rented the video of the first one and watched it again."
Second girl: "I thought it was really funny."
First girl: "But it was so dumb!"o
Second girl: "You're probably right, but my boyfriend will love it."
Those are the mixed opinions of the target audience, and they're absolutelycorrect. Like most sequels, "Wayne's World 2" dutifully repeats everything that made the first film a hit, so what it lacks in originality, it replaces with familiarity. Fans will love it - or at least like it - and everyone else is on his own.
The premise is more or less the same as it was in the first film. Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth (Dana Carvey) are still doing a public access cable show in Aurora, Ill. Wayne still has his guitar-playing "babe" girlfriend (Tia Carrere), though a sleazy record producer (Christopher Walken) is trying to lure her away. Wayne doesn't know what he wants to do with his life until Jim Morrison appears to him in a dream and tells him to promote a rock concert, "Waynestock."
That's about all there is to the disposable plot. Other bits of business involving a burnt-out roadie (Ralph Brown) and a beautiful blonde (Kim Basinger) who puts some moves on Garth are much funnier. The script by Myers, Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner cobbles together a lot of unconnected comic ideas and never really tries to turn them into a unified whole. All movies based on "Saturday Night Live" routines do that, and this one is no exception.
Roughly a third to half of the jokes are worth a laugh. Director Stephen Surjik demonstrates no real comic sense. His parodies of other movies never quite hit the mark, and he appears to be at a complete loss in the concert sequences involving the aging rockers of Aerosmith.
Even more than most, this kind of comedy is a matter of individual taste, so it's pointless to be too critical. But it still seems like the bloom has worn off this act very quickly. When the first film came out a little more than a year ago, Wayne and Garth were synonymous with youthful underachievers. Today they've been replaced by Beavis and Butt-head. The future looks grim. Wayne's
Wayne's World 2: **
A Paramount release playing at the Salem Valley 8. 90 min. Rated PG-13 for sexual humor, a few naked backsides.
by CNB