MPAA Rating: PG-13/Genre: Sci-Fi Comedy/ Stars: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Kristen Schaal, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Anthony Carrigan, Erinn Hayes, Jayma Mays, Amy Stoch, Holland Taylor, Kid Cudi, William Sadler, Jillian Bell, Hal Landon Jr., Beck Bennett, DazMann Still, Jeremiah Craft, Daniel Dorr, Sharon Gee, Shoshana Bean, Patty Anne Miller, George Carlin, Kelly Carlin, Dave Grohl, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Guillermo Rodriguez, Nathan Head/Runtime: 91 minutes
I think it is a reasonably safe statement to make that there is a section of who I am as both a cinema lover and a critic that finds it a bit on the peculiar side that there is (to date) a trilogy of slices of cinema featuring the iconic characters William “Bill” S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan respectively. Having said that though, there are no less than 9 (going on 10) movies in the Saw franchise and at least 10 (again going on 11) films in the Fast and Furious franchise so to be fair I guess math and quality aren’t really things that the land of movie magic hold particularly near and dear to their respective hearts. Yet perhaps what is the most peculiar about the fact that we have a trilogy about this ultra-relaxed BFF duo is the fact that they don’t really much if any of the components that a franchise of movies can be constructed upon. I mean, awesome skills on the guitar aside, they’re not Batman or The Avengers. Nor for that matter are they 007 taking part in fate of the world hanging in the balance assignments for MI6 or some other covert intelligence agency. In fact, if I am being completely honest, the pair don’t exactly have anything that really sets them apart from 99.5% of the population on the planet Earth even though they keep having people from the future tell them they will be the ones to bring the world together through the power of song. Ultimately, if there is one thing that really distinguishes them as individuals, I think it would be the fact that Bill and Ted are just a pair of alright guys who audiences love chilling and jamming out with. Suffice it to say that it is that low-key atmosphere of both drive as well as camaraderie that helps to roll out the red carpet so to speak for the slice of cinema I am reviewing for you today, 2020’s Bill & Ted Face the Music, the long-in-the-works 3rd entry that brings back Winter and Reeves in their iconic roles for the first time since a journey that Bill and Ted went on in 1991 that saw them play games against no less an entity than Death himself all while sinister robot versions of the duo wreaked havoc on the real world. Thankfully, unlike other legacy sequels where the reprisal of certain iconic characters by their original performers may have fallen flat, here we see that Reeves and Winter still fit their respective characters incredibly well. Sure, it may start out a bit hit or miss to an extent, but thankfully this slice of cinema is able to find the rhythm that it needs in order to give us a funny and heartfelt in equal measure film that may not be excellent, but it most assuredly is not heinous either dudes.
The plot is as follows: Playing out in real time to a surprising degree, our slice of cinema opens as we see that our dynamically goofy duo are currently engaged in a teeny tiny bit of that infamous phenomenon known as the mid-life crisis. This is because even though they still love their princess wives with all their hearts and are the absolute best dads in the world to their terrific daughters Thea and Billie (like those names took any imagination on their parts) we still that there is one component to their lives that isn’t doing too hot namely their musical success or dare I say their lack thereof. This is because despite being consistently told that it would be their music that would help to unite the world, we see that Bill and Ted have yet to conjure up this magic melody and when you also factor in the fact that their once iconic band the “Wyld Stallions” hasn’t been whole for quite awhile and for reasons I will leave for you to discover, it really is starting to look less and less likely with the passage of time that Bill and Ted will be able to accomplish their true destiny. With that said though, it isn’t long before our dynamic duo manages to acquire a significant degree of incentive to get their groove on. A degree of incentive that comes in the form of another messenger from the future by the name of Kelly who, in addition to being the daughter of iconic B&T character Rufus, is also there to pass along some information to our duo. Namely that they have no more and no less than 77 minutes to finally get their stuff together and come up with the song that will bring everyone on Earth together now and always otherwise a vast array of eras in time are about to violently collide and, in the process, rip a permeant hole in both time and space. However, we soon see that instead of actually trying to put their brains together and come up with the song independently, our duo come up with an insidious plot to utilize the iconic phone booth from their previous adventures and utilize it to head to the future and just swipe the finished song from their future selves. At the same time though, we see that their daughter duo decide that they want to help their dads on this mission by choosing to head out on their own adventure to bring together the most amazing band in all of history to help their dads out including such music icons as Mozart, Louis Armstrong, and Jimi Hendrix. Thus with the clock counting down, can our dynamic duo finally get their act together or is this one time where they might just have to face the music? That I will leave for you to discover for yourself dear reader….
Now to someone who is new to this collection of films, I can definitely see how it might appear as if the narrative that this one is operating with might just be biting off more than it can chew as it is incorporating two voyages through time by two different pairs of characters, a story crammed with a smorgasbord of quirky individuals, and a side outing to pay none other than Death a house call? Indeed how can the returning screenwriting duo of Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon even remotely make their way through this barely organized chaos? Well dear reader the answer to that distinct cinematic riddle is actually quite simple: the duo just chooses to do what they did with the first two and just embrace all the oddity with a big smile on their faces and with no hesitation whatsoever. As a result, we see that the pair is able to sculpt for us a slice of cinema that is able to maintain the relaxed and positivity of the pair of films that came before it without getting sidetracked by thinking twice on everything involved in the narrative. I mean let’s be honest if the time travel shenanigans on display here are 110% scientific in your mind dear reader then I think you and I need to have a talk about what shape the Earth is next (hint: it’s round). Jokes aside, the fact remains that if you are someone that can handle how odd this slice of cinema genuinely is then you will be rewarded with a funny yet also heartfelt story about the power of friendship and family that also incorporates Death, a murderbot, and Kid Cudi to name a few ingredients. Yet, perhaps because of how much time has passed between installments, we see that this slice of cinema also does something else that is truly commendable. That being that it even manages to incorporate a fairly decent sized hint of not only wistfulness, but also heartbreaking loss into the mix. Perhaps the best example of this can be found in the form of how this slice of cinema handles the iconic character of Rufus from the first two movies and who was played by the late yet great George Carlin. Indeed, I won’t say how this slice of cinema incorporates him into the mix, but I will say that it is both a poignant ode to the man behind the character as well as a sort of heartbreaking suggestion that what Bill and Ted did when they were younger is now seen as nothing more than a trivia anecdote for the people in the future that they helped to create. Thus, when you also factor in dependably on-point helmsmanship from director Dean Parisot, who also gave the world the wonderfully underrated Galaxy Quest, as well as another fantastic soundtrack you get work behind the camera that is nothing short of fairly well done.
Of course, perhaps the big thing that is working in this slice of cinema’s favor is the fact that both Winter and Reeves are able to just slip back into their iconic roles with such ease that not only does it instantly remind you of the delightful chemistry and charm the pair had, but it also feels like they haven’t been heartbreakingly absent from our lives for the past going on 3 decades. Another big positive in that respect is that, due to the fact that Reeves has managed to actually regain a significant amount of the popularity he had in the late 90s/ early 2000s due to some franchise about a guy named John who decides to gun down the people who killed his dog and then so many more, this slice of cinema easily could have put more of a screentime emphasis on Ted as a result. Thankfully, we see that this slice of cinema remembers to make this entry just as much a buddy duo film as the last two and gift fairly equal screentime to both of them. As a result, yes Reeves is just as wonderfully silly as he was back in ’91, but Winter is able to match his goofiness beat for beat and as a result the two still are able to play off each other incredibly well. We also see that both men are also gifted with an increase in brilliant comedic chances in this film as compared to the first two due to getting to portray multiple takes on Bill and Ted’s future selves that will definitely have you at the very least chuckling in amusement. Along with them however, we see that Lundy-Paine and Weaving as Thea and Billie also do a terrific job at not only personifying their dads’ distinct quirks phenomenally well, but also in shouldering their own arc in this without once negating the one being undertaken by the titular duo. Indeed make no mistake dear reader: Billie and Thea are a genuine delight to follow and their consistent joy on their journey is very much genuine. Yet although Weaving has been an actress that I have enjoyed seeing perform since her turn in 2019’s phenomenal Ready or Not, I think it is Lundy-Paine who perhaps gives the slightly better performance as they manage to with ease showcase Ted’s peculiarities so well that it helps to conjure up a character that legit feels like it could be either his offspring or a clone that was hidden away somewhere. Indeed if there is any hope I have for the land of movie magic, it would be that this performance is just the start of what turns out to be a long and magnificent career. As for everyone else in the supporting cast, they are all aces as well starting with the also returning William Sadler who, as Death, is just as phenomenal as he was in 1991. Indeed, not only does he still have that brilliant wit of his, but his comedic delivery is just as on point as ever. We also get terrific work here from both Anthony Carrigan as a nervous murder bot and Jillian Bell as a bewildered and just plain exasperated marriage counselor respectively. Now yes, this slice of cinema does not give a whole lot for Mays and Hayes, in the roles of Bill and Ted’s wives, a lot to do narrative-wise. Thankfully though, the film is still able to provide some terrific female representation courtesy of both Holland Taylor’s turn here as the “Great Leader” from the future as well as the previously mentioned Kelly, who in the hands of the brilliant Kristen Schaal, is the most wonderful kind of comedically sardonic possible. Suffice it to say that yes, this slice of cinema may have its issues, but the cast assembled here certainly is not one of them.
All in all is Bill and Ted Face the Music a perfect slice of cinema? Oh heck no. Not even close. At the same time though, this isn’t exactly one that needed to be. Sure, this slice of cinema may not be the lightning in a bottle kind of iconic that the original was when it was first released back in 1989. With that in mind however, there is something about this slice of cinema that makes it one of the most genuinely relaxing and yet also committed to being the kind of film that its target audience desperately wanted it to be films I have seen in quite some time. Indeed, yes there may be a few moments scattered throughout where the dialogue doesn’t exactly resonate the way it ought to and yes both Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, due to being in their 50s (!) aren’t always capable of putting the exact same goofy youthful energy into every single scene. By the same token however, they do balance that out by putting a tremendous amount of heart and passion into their respective characters that you can’t help, but admire and love the effort by the two in bringing this duo back in a time when we honestly needed them most. Thus did movie goers the world over really require another cinematic Bill and Ted adventure to make their lives complete? Ehhhh depends on who you ask honestly. By the same token though, is this reviewer glad that movie goers got another one? Oh totally dude. Indeed the cast does terrific work in front of the camera and the various departments behind the camera aren’t too bad either. Suffice it to say then that Bill and Ted Face the Music may not be perfect, but it is nevertheless a most triumphant return for one of the more iconic cinematic duos for a certain generation of movie goer. Make of that what thou will dear reader. On a scale of 1-5 I give Bill and Ted Face the Music a solid 3.5 out of 5.
