Lights Out
Copyright (c) 1994, Bruce Diamond
All rights reserved



        Ŀ
          WAYNE'S WORLD 2:  Stephen Surjik, director.  Mike Myers  
          and Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner, screenplay.  Starring  
          Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Christopher Walken, Tia         
          Carrere, Ralph Brown, Kim Basinger, Chris Farley, James  
          Hong, Aerosmith, Olivia D'Abo, Ed O'Neill, Harry         
          Shearer, Drew Barrymore, Rip Taylor, and Charlton Hes-   
          ton.  Paramount.  Rated PG-13.                           
        

          Thre's a lot to be said for producer Lorne Michaels; though
     his ego seems to have bloated over the years (he appears at least
     once in nearly every "Saturday Night Live" show now), he has
     become the producer of some solidly-entertaining movies from the
     SNL franchise.  WAYNE'S WORLD (1992) was wackily inventive, a
     logical extension of the TV sketch, filled with knowing media
     references and surprising cameos.  CONEHEADS, released this past
     summer, though not as fresh or as successful at the box office,
     still managed to amuse and delight.  WAYNE'S WORLD 2, though, may
     have tarnished the silver a bit.

          Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) and Garth Algar (Dana Carvey)
     are back, now out of their parents' homes and living in their own
     babe-loft, an abandoned toy factory that suspiciously resembles
     Cassandra's (Tia Carrere) abode from the first film.  Yes,
     Cassandra's back, too, on the verge of a major record deal with
     producer Bobby Cahn (Christopher Walken).  Carrere seems more
     aloof this time out, so self-absorbed that when she professes her
     love for Wayne (he's fun and he isn't a jerk like most other
     guys), it doesn't ring true.  She even professes her love twice
     (once to the increasingly-neurotic Wayne and once to fend off
     Bobby), but twice unconvincing is one time too many.

          Wayne and Garth are still producing "Wayne's World," their
     regular cable show, and still indulging their love of heavy metal
     music (they attend an Aerosmith concert).  Wayne learns of Cass-
     andra's impeding recording career at the convert and immediately
     begins to feel a sense of loss.  (Didn't we see this plot in the
     first film?  Hell, if Wayne is this insecure all the time, then
     maybe Cassandra *needs* to dump him.)  Wayne's driving force this
     time is a vision of Jim Morrison who tells him to stage a huge
     rock concert called (get ready) Waynestock.  (Hoo-hah.)  "If you
     book them, they will come," Morrison tells him, before the Naked
     Indian leads him back home.

          From there it goes completely Looney Tunes, and the more I
     think about it, the more I like it.  Myers and James Hong, as
     Cassandra's father visiting from Hong Kong, stage a hilarious
     kung fu duel over Cassandra, complete with badly-dubbed voices,
     whip-crack sound effects (even when Wayne answers the phone in
     the midst of battle), and goofball gravity-defying moves.  Hong
     pronounces Wayne a mighty warrior and worthy to woo his daughter.
     Nevermind that his permission is rescinded later or that Wayne
     breaks up with Cassandra over Bobby.

          Rushing off to London to hire Del Preston (Ralph Brown), the
     greatest roadie that ever lived, to help put on Waynestock, Wayne
     and Garth, they discover that Del has had the same Jim Morrison
     dream.  He asks, before they leave, "Didn't you find it totally
     unnecessary to be able to see the crack of the Indian's butt?"
     Hell, I was waiting for Wayne to say that to the Indian himself.
     Del turns out to be a big help, despite being a total burnout and
     despite the lack of bookings.  He's seemingly oblivious to that
     aspect of the pre-planning though, because he's stuck in the
     past, telling over and over the same story about breaking into a
     candy store with Jeff Beck to get some brown M&Ms for Ozzy
     Osbourne's candy jar.

          Going on is useless, because WAYNE'S WORLD 2 is jam-packed
     with these gags, including a throwaway scene capitalizing on
     JURASSIC PARK's success, and an outrageous scene-for-scene parody
     of THE GRADUATE's climax, complete with Simon and Garfunkel's
     "Mrs. Robinson" (deconstructed and re-created later in the
     sequence by The Lemonheads).  Stick through the credits for a
     funny take-off on the old Ironeyes Cody public service
     announcement on pollution (still seen sometimes on the Nicko-
     lodeon cable network).

     RATING:  6 (out of 10)

