“Did you know that by studying every inch of Julia Roberts, I have achieved a doctorate in babeology?”

Justin’s rating: AURORA RAWKS

Justin’s review: I can’t really shake the notion that we were cheated out of a third Wayne’s World movie in the ’90s. Sure, the second film only did about half as well as the first, but both were hilarious comedies that did the SNL brand proud. I would’ve loved a Wayne’s World 3 in ’94 or ’95, perhaps tweaking the nose of the grunge movement. But Mike Meyers moved on to Austin Powers and Shrek while Dana Carvey… well, there was Master of Disguise, and we should let that rest in peace.

I suppose that if I really need the illusion of a full trilogy, I could always dig out the official VCR board game that came out the same year as the first flick. The game itself sounds pretty stultifying — you just go around answering trivia and trying to collect “babe” and “hunk” pieces — but what I’m most interested in is the video segments that made up the 30-minute runtime.

A creepy, massive, disembodied mouth explains the rules of the game before Wayne and Garth collect an easy paycheck with subsequent appearances to guide the players through the game beats. There’s no story here, so let go of that expectation. Rather, it’s a series of instructions and general goofing off and overuse of certain popular phrases from the movie. It’s also a good crash course on the history of the phrase “NOT!” and why we as a society decided to reject it until Borat brought it back into the public vernacular.

What’s unforgivable about this video is that Wayne and Garth are not filmed on the same set — or, in universe, the same house. Even though they’re supposedly talking to each other. It’s like the whole thing was filmed during the COVID lockdown of spring 2020. It simply makes it bad and robs the duo of natural interactions.

As a piece of video entertainment, it’s bound to let you down. Only the occasional moments feel fresh and funny. But if I was actually playing this with friends, I could see it being pretty engaging. Meyers and Carvey go all-in with their interactions with the players, and despite the constant regurgitation of their catchphrases, at least they’re trying.

For us today, the VCR video is a sort of mirror of how annoying we all were back when we were swept up in Wayne’s World fever and kept quoting the film. It was fun while it lasted, but it’s a good thing that we’ve put this to rest.

Intermission!

• “Shameless plug”
• AHH! GIANT MOUTH that kind of needs braces!
• “Sphinctoids” is a term that we haven’t heard since 1992. Or before it.
• Wayne trying SO HARD to get you to yell “I’m not worthy” at your TV
• Garth is the video equivalent of “hamburger helper…” NOT
• “OK, this could be fun!” But it probably won’t be.
• “Spin the centrafugal randomizing device.”
• Boy are they running that grey poupon thing into the ground
• “If Michelle Pfieffer was little Red Riding Hood, she’d be a babe in the woods. A little play on words, there.”
• “If Heather Locklear was a soda, she’d be a root babe.”
• Such a useful rundown of the popular female celebrities of yesteryear
• “This is a dark day in partydom.”