So the last time we saw Bill & Ted, it was 29 years ago. A lot has changed since the duo’s Excellent Adventure (1989) and Bogus Journey (1991). I mean, let’s be real. It’s been nearly three decades. Neither installment was what I’d call great cinema but they both coast on the affable charm of the leads. “Be excellent to each other!” and “Party on dudes!” they proclaimed. I really wanted to like this sequel because (1) of nostalgia for the first film and (2) there are flashes of inspiration that kept me hoping it would get better. Unfortunately, the production is a chaotic, loud special effects-laden fantasy that never quite gelled for me.
So the boys (well men — Bill & Ted are in their 50s now) are tasked with writing a song that will unite the world and save humanity. If they don’t, then reality will collapse. Being the slackers that they are, they decide to reutilize their old miraculous phone booth to time travel into the future where the tune already exists, steal it and bring it back to their current era. But there’s so much more going on. They are married and their wives (Erinn Hayes and Jayma Mays) are also time traveling to find an existence where each woman is happily married to their respective husband. Bill & Ted are also pursued by a neurotic robot (Anthony Carrigan) that has been sent by The Great Leader (Holland Taylor) to kill the duo in order to restore balance to the universe. Whew!
Now on to the most righteous part. Bill & Ted are aided by their daughters, Thea and Billie, who want to help their fathers write the song. Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine embody the offspring with charisma and appeal. Their personalities reflect their fathers’ demeanor but with more wisdom. They have an encyclopedic knowledge of music and they put it to good use as they recruit a supergroup of the greatest musicians from throughout history. Mozart (Daniel Dorr), Louis Armstrong (Jeremiah Craft), and Jimi Hendrix (DazMann Still) are among the choices. This is the story thread that harkens back to the sweet simplicity of the first movie. The portion concerning the two girls is actually the most compelling.
The bloated saga is tedious though. Bill & Ted keep running into depressing or silly future versions of themselves. In one they’re muscle-bound inmates in prison, in another timeline, hippies, in still another, old men. None of these different iterations are very funny or clever. Of course, most people tuning in won’t care. They want to see “Bill” played by Alex Winter and “Ted” portrayed by Keanu Reeves. The dudes are back and that’s very important because nostalgia is everything in this episode. I think it’s safe to say if you haven’t seen the other two chapters or didn’t enjoy them, then Face the Music is definitely not made with you in mind. This is for the fans and it relies on jokes and asides that reward people who are.
8-28-20
2 Responses
I recently watched for the first time, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, it was silly, but just ok. This movie was a mess. I wished they’d focused more on the daughters story. That was good. Acting by the two leads was terrible. Not buying that they wouldn’t have grown up after 30 years. 2 1/2 stars.
I don’t have the highest expectations for this one, but I really liked the first film (second one was ok), so I will give it a shot. I’m really curious to see this one.