Wayne's World 2

Year: 1993
Director: Stephen Surjik
Screenplay: Mike Myers, Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner
Starring: Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere, Christopher Walken, Kim Basinger
Running Time: 95 minutes
Genre: Comedy

Summary: Aurora, Illinois: Wayne Campbell (Myers) hosts a local public-access TV show called Wayne's World with his best friend Garth Elgar (Carvey). Aside from his TV show, Wayne's main interests in life are his girlfriend Cassandra (Carrere) and heavy rock music. However he feels like his life lacks direction. One night, Wayne has a mystical dream where he encounters rock legend Jim Morrison (Michael A. Nickels) in the desert, who convinces Wayne to put on an open-air rock concert.
As the arrangements progress for the concert, which Wayne dubs "Waynestock" (after Woodstock), he discovers that Cassandra, who is the lead singer in a band, is being lured away to Los Angeles by her sleazy producer Bobby Cahn (Walken), who has a more than professional interest in her.
Meanwhile Garth meets an alluring woman (Basinger) who ropes him into a passionate relationship but is quickly revealed to have ulterior motives

Opinions: This movie is the sequel to the original Wayne's World (1992) which was in turn based on a series of short sketches on the comedy TV series Saturday Night Live. The movie uses the kind of scattershot comedy style where there are so many jokes thrown at the audience that even when some fall flat there are bound to be enough that stick enough to keep the laughs coming at a good rate. The frequent jokes about rock music from the sixties through to the eighties might go over the heads of some younger viewers, and also there are quite a few flat sections of the film, it is certainly not as consistently entertaining as the original. However, Wayne and Garth themselves are pretty much impossible to dislike and the movie is consistently engaging.
The cast all perform their parts well, and there is a lot of fun to be had from spotting the celebrity cameos, such as Drew Barrymore, Charlton Heston (as a "Good Actor") and the rock band Aerosmith.
While not as good as the original, this is still a fun film which provides plenty of laughs.

"Sleeping like this will add ten years to your life. I learned it from Keith Richards when I toured with the Stones. This may be the reason why Keith cannot be killed by conventional weapons."
- Roadie Del Preston (Ralph Brown) explains why he sleeps upside down in Wayne's World 2



Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in Wayne's World 2

Withnail & I

Year: 1987
Director: Bruce Robinson
Screenplay: Bruce Robinson
Starring: Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths, Ralph Brown, Michael Elphick
Running Time: 108 minutes
Genre: Comedy

Summary: London, 1969: Withnail (Grant) and Marwood (McGann) are a pair of unemployed actors who share a squalid flat. Withnail is a flamboyant alcoholic with a penchant for long, venomous rants where he bemoans his fate, humanity and the world in general while proclaiming himself as an undiscovered genius. Marwood is more level-headed and anxiety prone.
Deciding they need a break, they go off for a holiday in the country in a cottage owned by Withnail's Uncle Monty (Griffiths). However, the holiday does not go to plan, as they are hampered by terrible weather, and a complete lack of food, fuel and common sense. As Withnail manages to antagonise every local person they encounter, including a threatening poacher (Elphick), and Marwood does his best to avoid the sexual advances of Uncle Monty.

Opinions: Note: Paul McGann's character name is never spoken in the movie and in the credits he is just referred to as "I", but he is named Marwood in the screenplay and I have used that name in this review for the sake of convenience.
This scathing dark comedy is one of the greatest British films of the 1980s and remains one of the best cult films Britain ever produced. The film is full of memorable scenes and quotable dialogue. Blending elements of tragedy with the comedy it is at once sad and hilarious. Grant made his name with his portrayal of the vicious Withnail who barely shuts up long enough to down prodigious quantities of alcohol. Incidentally, in real life Grant is a teetotaller and had never been drunk prior to signing on for the film. Robinson felt that he could not play an alcoholic like Withnail unless he knew what it was like to be drunk, and so forced Grant to go on a drinking binge. Grant has said that he found the experience deeply unpleasant. McGann and Griffith are impressive in their roles, but Ralph Brown as permanently stoned drug dealer Danny walks away with every scene he appears in.
The film is largely autobiographical with Marwood being based on Robinson and Withnail being based on actor Vivian MacKerrell, with whom Robinson shared a house in the 1960s. The scene where Withnail drinks lighter fluid was taken from an incident where MacKerrell drank lighter fluid and, according to Robinson, was unable to see again for several days. In the film, unbeknownst to Grant, Robinson subsituted the water, that was originally going to be drank in the lighter fluid scene with vinegar. The subsequent vomiting was scripted, but the look of complete shock and disgust on Grant's face was entirely genuine.
There is a real sense in the movie of the end of an era. The wild carnival of the swinging sixites giving way to the long hangover of the seventies.


"We want the finest wines available to humanity. We want them here, and we want them now!"
-Withnail (Richard E. Grant) places his order in a quiet country tea shop in Withanil & I




Marwood (Paul McGann) and Withnail (Richard E. Grant) pause for reflection in Withnail & I