The latest in our series of writers paying tribute to their most rewatched comfort films is a trip back to 1992 for the unique rock comedy
W
hen the conversation of the most overrated band in history crops up I often want to put Queen forward as my suggestion. Their omnipresent hits represent the worst of bands who favour stadium-sized grandeur over true ambition. However, I can never truly get behind the idea of trashing Freddie and co when their music helped create one of my most beloved scenes in cinema history.
Early in 1992’s Wayne’s World, a bunch of rockers squeeze into an AMC Pacer with custom flames painted on the side. As they drive past the automarts, car washes and beef stands of downtown Chicago, Bohemian Rhapsody plays on the car stereo. The song’s operatic verses are used for laughs (the “Let me go” line becomes a cry for help from a friend who is partied out and might “honk” in the backseat) while the breakdown in the middle creates space for a spot of high-speed headbanging. To me it’s as thrilling a car scene as anything in Bullitt or the Mad Max franchise.
At its core the scene, and Wayne’s World as a whole, is about the friendship between Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth (Dana Carvey). They are best friends who, when they’re not moshing behind the wheel, host a show on public access TV. Essentially a pair of irreverent pre-internet YouTubers, they wear ripped jeans and Def Leppard shirts while chatting to eccentrics like the inventor of Suck Kut, a self-hair-cutting device. The DIY show has given them micro-celebrity status, with Wayne dating Cassandra (Tia Carrere), the singer in a band he meets at the Gasworks, a local club.
