Cast and Crew: Penelope Spheeris (Director); Brian Doyle-Murray, Lara Flynn Boyle, Michael DeLuise, Donna Dixon, Colleen Camp, Kurt Fuller, Chris Farley, Meat Loaf, Mike Hagerty, Robert Patrick, Ione Skye, Alice Cooper, Ed O’Neil
What It’s About: Wayne (Mike Meyers) and Garth (Dana Carvey) manage to parlay their public access cable TV show into an underground hit-and a chance at larger stardom. Can these metal heads make the big time while keeping creepy record executive Benjamin Kane (Rob Lowe) away from Wayne’s girlfriend Casssandra (Tia Carrere)?
Why Watch it Today?: Carrere, who turns 47 today, briefly became a major star thanks to her turn in today’s film, a major hit that bridged the awkward gap between hair metal’s reign during the late 80s and the ascendance of grunge in the early 90s, largely at the expense of the kind of bands that Wayne and Garth types embraced so fervently. In any case, the catch phrases of today’s films were as ubiquitous in the halls of my high school as those of another Mike Meyers vehicle, Austin Powers would be in the second half of the decade.
Other Choices: Carrere also appears in another transition piece-<i>Showdown in Little Tokyo</I>, which may, in fact, be the only 80s action movie made in the 90s!
I am embarrassed to admit even to myself how many times I watched this movie. I also owned the soundtrack…
Liking and quoting this movie was like breathing in high school…everyone did it so often you only noticed of you thought about it.