Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 136

ChicagoTribun Oic.x.'G Picks By GeneSiskel 'ft-' 9 Iff 9II1 a. "a wt II i a 1 i 'Wayne' packs insight into idiot plot liiii hough it never overcomes the massive problems inherent in expanding a 10-minute TV sketch into a 90-minute movie, Penelope Original, inspired lunacy inhabits 'Wayne's World' ur Flick of the Week is "Wayne's World," a very funny and most original comedy that enlarges the basement cable TV show parody that is a regular feature on "Saturday Nieht Live." For those who haven't seen it. the TV show features vk 7 f' 1 1 i a pair of twenty-something nerds, Wayne (Mike Myers as a Bill Murray-type smart aleck) and his best buddy, Garth (Dana Carvey as a tech-weenie whose brain has been fried by heavy-metal conceits and earphones). They broadcast from the fake-wood-paneled rec room of Wayne's parents' home in Aurora. What do they talk about on the show? Mostly babes and guitars.

And in the movie they chase both a babe (Tia Carrere) and a guitar (a Stratocaster). Standing in their way not is a slimy Chicago ad exec (Rob Lowe in inspired casting) who wants to exploit the boys' innocence by having one of his twerpy clients (a videogame-parlor operator played by Brian Doyle-Murray) sponsor the program and clean it up. The joke is Wayne and Garth will take the money but they won't run. What is special about the script is that it offers jokes that will appeal to a wide range of age groups as well as taking time out for inspired bits of whimsy including trips to a Middle American doughnut shop as well as street hockey between the boys. The antecedents for this type of comedy are "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" and "Bill Ted's Excellent Adventure." But I enjoyed "Wayne's World" more.

Credit the choice of director Penelope Spheeris, who previously has created a couple of fine documentaries about heavy-metal music along with routine suburban teen comedies. This time she puts it all together. "Wayne's World" is playing at the Burnham Plaza, Water Tower, Webster Place and outlying theaters. Rated PG-13. Carvey in "Wayne's World." Spheeris' adaptation of Mike Myers' "Wayne's World" packs a surprising amount of wit and social insight along with a lot of real dumb stuff.

The premise, which Second City alumnus Myers has developed over the last three years on "Saturday Night Live," has enough of a reality quotient to achieve a dramatic weight rarely accorded TV sketch comedy. For once, it seems born of observation rather than sheer silliness. Wayne Campbell, as played by Myers, is an amiably spacey, painfully overgrown adolescent whose childhood seems to have been artificially prolonged through no particular fault of his own. His suburban upbringing (in Aurora) has been too comfortable to leave behind, and the adult world, deflated by economic depression and limited opportunities, holds little to beckon him on. The one center of value in Wayne's life is heavy-metal music, which also provides the ostensible focus of the cable access program he hosts, with his best friend Garth Algar (Dana Carvey), from the basement of his parents' home.

Though the subjects under discussion do not range much farther than the excellence of various babes and synonyms for stomach distress, the self-assured Wayne and the stammering Garth manage to convey the spirit of a whole world otherwise unexplored in American media that of a post-Baby Boom generation without much hope or sense of purpose. This is a subject that director Spheeris has treated in the past both in her music documentaries, "The Decline of Western Civilization," Parts I and II, and in her handful of fiction films. "Wayne's World," in fact, plays eerily like a comic Flicks Picks Mike Myers, Rob Lowe and Dana Dave Etclu "Wayne's World" Directed by Penelope Spheeris; written by Mike Myera and Bonnla turner a Tarry Turner, photographed by Theo Van de Sande; production designed by Gregg Fonseca; edited by Malcolm Campbell; music by J. Pater Robinson; produced by Lorn Michaels. A Paramount Release; opens Feb.

14 at the Water Tower, Webster Place and outlying theaters. Running time: 1:35. MPAA rating: PQ. Adult situations, mild lascivkMJsness. THE CAST Wayrw Campbell Mike Myera Garth Algar Dana Carvey Benjamin Oliver Rob Lowe Cassandra Tia Carrara Noah Vanderhoff Brian Doyle-Murray and much improved version of Spheeris' 1985 film about two suburban teens on a murderous rampage, "The Boys Next Door." There is an idiot plot, of course involving a greasy Chi Llovia review By Dave Kehr "35 Up" A documentary directed and produced by Michael Anted; photographod by Oemga Jessa Turner; edited by Kim Honor co-produced by Claire Lewis.

A Samuel GoMwyn Co. release; opens Feb. 14 at the Music Bon Theatre. Running time: 2:07. Not rated by tha MPAA but contains no problematic material.

a comfortable family life, a modest financial success and an ordinary unhappiness. Happily for the participants a few of them have dropped out of the years, but the majority remain "35 Up" is largely devoid of the sense of upheaval that defined the last feature, of ambitions abandonee com- promises reluctantly made. That A i I 1 cago television executive (Rob Lowe, entering a new and rather sad phase of his career) and his attempts to take "Wayne's World" commercial, and Wayne's romance with a lusty rock singer (Tia Carrere) but the film is at its best when it is simply charting the relationship between the two buddies as they tool around a fanciful Aurora that has been carpentered out of bits and pieces of L.A. Myers is an easy, natural performer who immediately merges with his role, though Carvey remains somewhat too stylized and actorish it's clear he's doing a bit, where Myers' identification with his character is almost mystically complete. The supporting players also seem much too broadly direct- ed they include Lara Flynn Boyle as Wayne's adhesive ex-girlfriend, Brian Doyle-Murray as a pompous sponsor and Colleen Camp as the sponsor's blowsy wife which drains some of the project's valuable authenticity.

"Wayne's World" is funniest at its most sober, documentary-like moments. 1 the film is mildly boring is thus both encouraging (things do seem to work out more or less well) and disappointing (there's less to watch, and a chilling lack of movement in the subjects' lives). There's no need to have seen the other installments in the scries to enjoy "35 Up." Aptcd, who has spent the last decade as a fiction filmmaker in Hollywood Miner's Daughter," includes extensive footage from the early films, which allows us to chart the de vclopmcnt, physical as much as emotional, of the individuals on the screen. The passage of time, as registered in these faces and bodies Sec JR Up p.yo '35 Up' continues a fascinating project been written large, and she Is equal to It. Director Levinson (The Natural," "Rain Main," has made another great-looking picture and has populated his supporting cast of mobsters with impressive acting talents Ben Kingsley as Meyer Lansky, Harvey Keitel as Mickey Cohen and Joe Ivfantegna as George Raft.

R. CAPE FEAR (Chestnut Station and outlying). Martin Scorsese's remake of "Cape Fear," which turns that stylish good-versus-evil drama inside out by presenting Its good figure as a flawed man and its evil figure as a wronged man. Nick Nolta's lawyer character in "Cape Fear" Is looking for the same kind of redemption sought by Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver" and Jake La Motta In "Raging Bull." His sins: He has flirted with cheating on his wife (Jessica Lange); he is confused about the inflamed sexuality of his daughter (Juliette Lewis), and most important ha sinned as a professional when he didn't give a man accused of a vicious sexual assault (Robert De Niro) his very best defense in a trial years ago. De Niro went to jail for 14 years; now he's out and wHI try to gat even by messing with Nolle's property and his family members.

Scorsese's swift camera movements are as threatening as De Niro's glaring glances and the film's graphic violence. R. vi FATHER OF THE BRIDE (Esquire, Pipers Alley and outlying). A sweet and sometimes funny remake of the 1950 Spencer Tracy-Elizabeth Taylor yam about a father who has trouble letting go of his daughter. Steve Martin, underrated as an actor, Is very good as a modern dad, but the script here la ultimately a one-note affair.

Diane Keaton as the bride's mother just smiles. And the young man the bride is marrying is such a fine guy from a nine family that we can't see any real reason for concern. In fact, tha groom's parents probably have more to worry about. In other words, what we have here Is a nice picture with one fine performance but nothing else. PG.

FINAL ANALYSIS (Burnham Plaza, McClurg Court, Webster Placa and outlying). A rare example of a pedestrian thriller that gets Interesting very late in tha same, llnforhtnately. it also a pic- Sce Flicks Picks, page New this week THE ADOAMS FAMILY (outlying). A disappointing big-screen version ol the TV show. What's wrong is that this is basically a collection of gag lines that take place wholly within the Addams family household.

That's a mistake, because the humor of the original New Yorker cartoons involved placing the creepy characters next to straight characters and observing the difference. Here there is no surprise to the gags. Additionally, the jokes dominate any relationship that might develop between the leads In the dim, played by Raul Julia and Anjeltea Huston. The picture looks great; the makeup is fine, but there's no heart the picture. PG-13.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Water Tower and outlying). More than just a terrific animated film for children, Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" revives the American movie musical, building on the success of the Oscar-winning "The Little Mermaid." Both feature Broadway-caliber show tunes by the team of Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman. Singing their hearts out In "Beauty and the Beast" are the characters of Belle, the most Independent young woman In her 18th Century French village, and the Beast, a selfish young man turned into a raging animal until he can control his anger and fan in love with a woman and have her fall in love with him. The beast's castle Is populated by a cute assortment of anthropomorphic household items. "Beauty and the Beast" also features a marvelous supporting character, a smug stud named Gaston who is determined to marry Belle, after he finishes hunting.

"Beauty and the Beast" Is one of the year's most entertaining films for both adults and children. Q. BUQSY (Esquire, Piper Alley and outlying). Not just another gangster picture. James Toback's sparkling script as Interpreted by director Barry Levinson and producer-star Warren Beatty both a rare love story between equals and a Calt of a dreamer.

Mobster Benjamin il was a louse, to be sure, but he did dream up Las Vegas, and he did love mob camp follower Virginia Hill (Annette Benina). Beatty, who has been too cute end self-fwteGtive In many of his performantMS In recent years, finally lets go here with some raw anger, and It i exhilarating. Annette, Bening role has 35 Up" is installment No. 5 in a remarkable scries of documentaries that began in Britain 28 years ago, when a crew from Granada Television filmed a carefully selected group of fourteen 7-year-olds in 7 Up." The hope was to offer a glimpse into Britain's future the notion being that the children of 1964 would be the leaders of the 21st Century. The future, alas, is now, and the children, having passed the examination of director Michael Aptcd in 1971 1978 and 1985 are now settled into early middle age.

There may be a leader or two among them, and there is one heartbreaking loser, but mostly they are average and their, grander long depatedjn a.