Penelope Spheeris's interest in music and outsiders carries into her comedy. We like the brisk detours and supporting performances in Wayne's World, though her feel for pace cannot quite disguise a thin story or excuse the lazy jokes about women.
Fi1m perspective
In Wayne's World (1992), a sight gag or a change of company can rescue a stretch that the story cannot sustain. Penelope Spheeris keeps those interruptions brisk, giving Mike Myers and Dana Carvey room to be ridiculous without asking them to supply all the evening's entertainment. We enjoyed the detours because the supporting performers could change the rhythm just as the central routine threatened to become tiring. It is an amiable comedy with dead patches, and her direction deserves much of the credit for keeping it worth the evening.
The route to that comedy runs through music. Her first feature, The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), documented Los Angeles punk, and her first narrative feature, Suburbia (1984), followed punk squatters. The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988) took her documentary work into Los Angeles heavy metal. These are useful films to set beside Wayne's World: its enthusiasm for music makes more sense as part of her work than as a departure from it.
She also knows when to give the supporting cast some space. Tia Carrere's Cassandra holds our attention alongside Myers and Carvey, while Rob Lowe's Benjamin Kane varies the company before the double act wears thin. The television jokes and abrupt digressions are livelier than the plot supplied by Myers, Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner. That is a directing achievement worth noticing, though some routines repeat themselves and the jokes at women's expense remain lazy.
Wayne's World was her studio breakthrough, followed by The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), The Little Rascals (1994) and Black Sheep (1996). Being pigeonholed as a comedy director limited her opportunities for more personal work. She returned to documentary with Decline Part III (1998) and We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n Roll (2001). That return matters: the music films were not merely preparation for a studio career.
We would start with Wayne's World, allowing for repetition and some jokes that should have been cut. Watch how often the supporting cast keeps the film lively. Then try The Decline of Western Civilization for a fuller idea of what Spheeris wanted to film.
Biography
Penelope Spheeris is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Born on 2 December 1945 in New Orleans, Louisiana, she holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles. She began her career in the 1970s producing, directing and editing music videos, founding the Los Angeles production company Rock 'n Reel in 1974.
Spheeris is known for her documentary trilogy The Decline of Western Civilization (1981–1998), which covers aspects of Los Angeles underground music scenes. Her feature films include the punk drama Suburbia (1984), The Boys Next Door (1986) and the comedy Wayne's World (1992), her highest-grossing film. Other credits include The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), The Little Rascals (1994), Black Sheep (1996) and Senseless (1998). She has also worked in television, including as a writer on Roseanne.
